THOUGH    JAILED,  HE    SPEAKS 


DEBS 


HIS  AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 
By  David  Karsner 


AN  AUTHORIZED  BIOGRAPHY 

"You  will  write  just  the  kind  of  a  book  that  Time  and  History  will 
require,  and  in  every  line  in  every  page,  you  w^ill  be  speaking  for 
me  w^itK  my  authority  given  to  you  -without  reservation  or  qual- 
ifications."— Eugene  V.  Dehs  to  David  K,arsner. 


Every  Copy  Sold  Helps 
Political  and  Industrial  Prisoners 

BONI      AND      LIVERIGHT 

Publishers  New  York 


DEBS 

His  Authorized  Life  and 

Letters  from  Woodstock 

Prison  to  Atlanta 

By  DAVID  KARSNER 

Forbidden  to  write  an  in- 
troduction to  this  book,  Debs 
issued  it  verbally  and  his 
spoken  message  introduces 
to  the  world  a  volume  that 
presents  the  intimate,  vivid 
picture  of  the  man  and  the 
times  in  which  he  has  played, 
and  still  hopes  to  play,  an 
important  and  significant 
role. 

It  is  written  by  the  man 
who  Debs  declares  to  be  the 
most  qualified  in  America 
to  undertake  the  task. 


$1.50 


BONI   &  LIVERIGHT 

Puhlishers  New  York 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


Jack  Fleming  Prison  Collection 


DEBS 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/debsliisautlioriz;eOOkarsricli 


Photograph  by  Allen  Drew  Cook 

EUGENE  VICTOR  DEBS 


DEBS 


His  Authorized  Life  and  Letters 


BY 


DAVID  KARSNER 


BONI    AND    LIVERIGHT 

Publishers  New  York 


COPTBIGHT,    1919, 

BONI  &  LIVERIGHT.  INC. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGS 

Introductory — Debs's  Authorization  and  In- 
dorsement     vii 

I.    "As  Firm  as  Granite" 1 

II.    Trial,  Conviction  and  Appeal 14 

III.    The  Journey  to  Prison 58 

rV.    Two  Months  at  Moundsville  Prisoii  ...  79 

V.    Transferred  to  Atlanta         101 

VI.    Early  Days  and  Backgrounds 110 

VII.    Labor  Unionist  and  Woodstock       .     .          .  130 

VIII.    Four  Presidential  Campaigns 179 

IX.    Libertarian  and  Lover 209 

X.    His  Impress  on  the  Future 224 

Appendix    .     .     i 229 


INTEODUCTION 

DEBS'S  'AUTHORIZATION  ANP  INDORSEMENT 

EUGENE  VICTOR  DEBS,  a  federal  convict  in  tlie 
United  States  Prison  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  was  pro- 
hibited, under  the  prison  rule,  from  doing  any  sort 
of  writing  except  the  one  letter  a  week  to  his  family. 
He  could  not,  therefore,  write  an  introduction  to  this 
volume.  Consequently,  I  visited  him  at  the  Atlanta 
Prison  on  July  17, 1919,  and  in  the  presence  of  Warden 
Fred  G.  Zerhst,  Debs  authorized  and  authenticated  this 
record  of  his  life  in  these  words: 

**I  am  exceedingly  glad  that  you  were  commissioned 
to  write  this  book  which,  I  am  sure,  will  com©  to  be 
recognized  as  an  important  and  an  imperishable  con- 
tribution to  American  labor  history.  Although  th<e 
rules  of  the  prison  do  not  permit  me  to  write  an 
introduction  to  your  book,  or  to  do  any  writing  of  any 
kind  aside  from  my  one  letter  a  week  to  my  family,  in 
this  spoken  word  I  authorize  you  to  write  the  story. 

**I  give  to  you  as  the  author,  and  to  Boni  and 
Liveright  as  the  publishers,  not  merely  my  word  of  ap- 
proval and  hearty  indorsement  of  your  book,  but  my 
warm  appreciation  of  this  manifest  interest  in  the  cause 
in  which  I  have  been  privileged  to  serve  all  of  my  life. 
You  will  write  just  the  kind  of  a  book  that  Time  and 
History  will  require,  and  in  every  line,  on  every  page 
you  will  be  speaking  for  me  with  my  authority,  given 
to  you  without  reservations  or  qualifications. 

**More  than  any  other  person  you  have  been  pe- 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

euliarly  identified  with  the  whole  story  since  it  be- 
gan with  the  trial  in  September,  1918.  Your  daily 
reports  of  the  trial  in  Cleveland,  your  several  accounts 
of  the  trip  we  took  from  Terre  Haute  to  Moundsville 
Penitentiary  last  April,  and  your  several  interviews  with 
me  at  Moundsville,  all  printed  in  The  New  York  Call; 
were  rare  specimens  of  newspaper  accuracy  and  jour- 
nalistic skill.  I  say  this  not  as  flattery,  but  as  the  per- 
sonal conviction  which  I  have  expressed  to  you  in  writing 
before. 

*' Honestly,  I  do  not  know  of  a  man  in  America  who 
is  placed  in  so  advantageous  a  position,  from  so  many 
angles,  to  write  this  book,  as  yourself.  I  suppose  that 
other  books  along  similar  lines  and  covering  the  same 
subject  will  be  bound  to  follow,  but  already  you  are 
fortified  with  a,  thorough  knowledge  of  the  case  and 
have  an  understanding  and  an  appreciation  of  its  his- 
toric significance  to  be  able,  more  than  any  other,  to 
write  authoritatively.  As  you  have  so  far  been  the 
newspaper  historian  of  my  trial,  conviction  and  im- 
prisonment, you  will  now  become  the  historian  of  the 
whole  story  in  a  much  larger  and  more  permanent  sense. 

*'And  I  indorse  and  shall  stand  by  your  book  as  being 
the  real  and  true  history  of  such  facts,  incidents  and 
data  that  you  may  deem  necessary  to  write  about,  com- 
ment upon  or  interpret,  and  you  therefore  understand 
without  further  word  from  me  that  I  place  abundant 
faith  in  your  moral  and  intellectual  integrity.  If  I 
did  not  feel  absolutely  sure  that  you  would  discuss  your 
subject  frankly,  fearlessly,  justly  and  accurately,  and 
in  the  same  intellectually  honest  spirit  that  I  would 
write  of  it,  I  should  of  course  be  compelled  to  withhold 
my  imprimatur  from  your  book. 

*' During  this  past  year,  crowded  with  these  mo- 
mentous months  when  we  have  been  together  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances,  you  have  measured  beyond 
every  test  of  loyalty  and  devotion  as  a  friend  and  com- 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

rade,  and  have  given  me  cause  to  regard  you  always 
as  my  younger  spiritual  brother. 

*'I  wish  your  book  every  success;  which  I  am  sure  it 
will  have;  and  you  have  my  authority  to  sign  my  name 
to  what  I  have  told  you  in  this  interview,  inasmuch  as 
the  rules  of  the  United  States  Prison  here  do  not  per- 
mit me  to  give  you  my  written  word." 

Still  in  the  presence  of  the  warden,  'Gene  Debs  sealed 
these  words  with  an  affectionate  embrace.  Then  he 
slowly  backed  off  to  the  door,  smiling  and  serene,  walked 
rapidly  down  the  silent  marble  corridor  with  light  and 
agile  tread,  and  the  heavy  iron  door  slammed  and  locked 
as  he  slipped  beyond,  and  became  again  a  common  con- 
vict, U.  S.  No.  9653. 


DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE 
AND  LETTERS 

CHAPTER  I 
"AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE'' 

SO  far  as  I  am  concerned  these  stone  walls  and  steel 
bars  do  not  exist;  I  do  not  see  them.  My  spirit 
soars  beyond  this  institution  and  mingles  with  the  spirits 
of  my  comrades,  loyal  and  devoted  all,  throughout  the 
country  and  the  world.  For  my  own  self  I  am  serene 
and  dauntless,  and  for  my  comrades  I  am  confident  that 
the  cause  in  which  and  for  which  they  are  working  all 
their  waking  hours  will  soon  triumph,  and  in  that  blessed 
day  the  workers  of  the  world  will  inaugurate  the  great- 
est liberty  and  democracy  that  the  world  has  ever  known. 
Tell  my  comrades  that  I  am  all  right  and  that  there 
is  nothing  to  worry  about;  and  now  is  there  anything 
else  that  you  wanted  to  see  me  about?'' 

Eugene  Victor  Debs,  a  Federal  prisoner  serving  a  sen- 
tence of  ten  years  for  violating  the  Espionage  Act  by 
making  a  speech  at  Canton,  Ohio,  on  June  16th,  1918, 
which  the  government  construed  as  being  inimical  to 
the  success  of  the  war  in  which  it  was  engaged  with 
the  Allied  Powers  against  Germany,  had  been  speaking 
to  me  for  half  an  hour  in  the  private  office  of  the  warden 
at  the  Atlanta  Federal  Prison.  I  told  him  that  there 
were  a  thousand  things  about  which  I  should  like  to 
speak  to  him,  but  he  instantly  assured  me  that  it  was 
unnecessary;  that  while  he  had  not  received  a  single 
paper  or  periodical  since  he  came  to  Atlanta,  June  14th, 

1 


2       DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

1919,  from  Moundsville  Penitentiary,  West  Virginia, 
where  he  began  to  serve  his  term  exactly  two  months 
before,  still  he  knew,  felt,  all  the  important  happenings 
and  did  not  need  to  be  enlightened. 

* '  I  can  feel  the  vibrations  of  the  warm,  firm  and  tender 
hearts  beating  in  unison  for  freedom  and  democracy 
all  over  the  world.  The  swelling  note  of  their  song 
reverberates  through  these  corridors,  and  I  know  they 
are  active.  At  night,  in  my  prison  cell  I  can  feel  the 
warm  and  tender  fingers  of  little  children  upon  my  face, 
and  all  these  things  give  me  strength  and  courage  to  face 
the  future,  whatever  it  may  hold,  with  serenity  and  com- 
posure.'* 

Debs  was  now  standing,  clad  in  the  prison  blue,  his 
lean  hands  placed  firmly  upon  each  of  my  shoulders, 
his  six  foot  figure,  gaunt  and  slender,  slightly  stoop- 
ing, his  smooth,  lean  and  mobile  face  wreathed  in  a 
smile,  and  his  spectacled  gray-blue  eyes  moist  and  ra- 
diant. A  few  feet  from  us  Warden  Fred  G.  Zerbst  was 
standing  at  his  yellow  roll-top  desk,  wearing  an  expres- 
sion on  his  face  which  to  me  seemed  to  betoken  a  mixture 
of  astonishment,  sadness  and  sympathetic  amusement. 
In  a  moment  Debs  was  backing  off  to  the  door  and  as 
he  turned  his  head  before  he  stepped  down  the  white 
marble  corridor  he  bowed  and  waved  his  hand  to  the 
warden  in  a  courteous  manner,  as  an  expression  of  his 
thanks  to  his  keeper  for  permitting  the  interview.  Debs 
was  wearing  cheap  canvas  ** sneakers''  over  rough  cot- 
ton socks.  Before  the  echo  of  the  slamming  iron  door 
behind  him  had  died  out  in  the  sepulchral  corridor, 
Warden  Zerbst  and  I,  both  still  standing,  were  looking 
very  foolishly  at  each  other. 

**Did  the  government  build  this  prison  for  such 
inen?"  I  asked. 

**The  government  built  this  prison  for  men  who  vio- 
late Federal  laws,"  replied  the  warden  judiciously.  Be- 
fore his  answer  came  I  imagined  there  was  a  negative 


'*AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE''  3 

reply  to  my  inquiry  in  his  mind.  But  if  there  was  he 
gave  it  no  voice. 

During  this  talk  with  Debs  he  mentioned  having  seen 
a  newspaper  article  purporting  to  be  a  statement  of  A. 
Mitchell  Palmer,  Attorney  General  of  the  United  States, 
to  the  effect  that  if  Debs  would  repent  things  might  be 
made  easier  for  him.  A  liberal  interpretation  of  this 
statement  might  be  made  to  imply  that  Debs  could 
have  a  pardon  if  he  would  but  ask  for  it  and  say  he 
was  sorry  for  what  he  had  done.  In  speaking  of  the 
newspaper  article  he  had  read  Debs^s  eyes  narrowed 
almost  to  slits,  and  his  great  jaw  tightened,  and  the 
flesh  on  his  long  and  narrow  chin  was  drawn  as  his 
mouth  contracted  with  the  gritting  of  his  teeth. 

*  *  Repent !  Repent ! "  he  snapped.  ' '  Repent  for  stand- 
ing like  a  man !  For  having  a  conviction  about  a  public 
question,  and  standing  by  it  and  for  the  Cause !  Why, 
before  I  would  don  the  sackcloth  and  get  down  into 
the  ashes  before  the  Attorney  General  or  any  man  on 
earth  for  having  a  principle  I  would  gladly  walk  to 
the  gallows  or  the  stake.  If  I  should  do  such  a  thing 
as  that  the  barbaric  tortures  of  the  Inquisition  would 
be  too  good  for  me. 

**No!  Not  in  a  thousand  years  shall  I  repent  for  a 
single  principle  that  I  possess.  They  are  dearer  to  me 
than  liberty,  than  life  itself.''  Pointing  his  finger  in 
his  most  characteristic  manner  in  the  direction  of  the 
iron  gray  gate  at  the  entrance,  he  continued: 

**The  flies  will  carry  me  through  that  keyhole  piece 
by  piece  before  I  shall  ever  confess  sorrow  or  penitence 
for  standing  like  a  man,  and  by  my  constitutional  rights 
as  an  American  citizen."  Debs  was  on  fire.  His  great 
frame  was  hot  in  the  molten  passion  of  his  spirit.  He 
was  now  manifesting  the  grand  bitterness  of  his  na- 
ture, which,  from  another  side  is  cooled  from  a  tower 
of  fire  and  force,  to  a  stooping  figure  of  infinite  tender- 


4       DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

ness,  mercy,  compassion  and  love.  ''No,"  said  he,  "I 
am  as  firm  as  granite ! ' ' 

It  can  be  said  without  exaggeration  that  Eugene  V. 
Debs  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  prisoners  ever  placed 
behind  steel  bars  in  America.  Before  his  incarceration 
he  had  enjoyed  national,  even  international,  fame  for 
twenty  years,  having  first  been  a  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  on  the  Social-Democratic 
Party's  ticket  in  1900.  In  the  three  successive  presi- 
dential campaigns  he  again  led  the  Socialist  Party.  He 
resolutely  declined  to  accept  the  nomination  for  the  fifth 
time  in  1916  when  his  party  again  looked  to  him  to  be 
their  leader.  In  that  presidential  year,  still  eager  to 
carry  on  the  propaganda  of  Socialism,  he  permitted 
his  state  (Indiana)  organization  to  run  him  for 
Congress  in  the  Fifth  District,  which  embraces  Terre 
Haute,  the  town  in  which  he  was  born  and  has  lived  all 
his  life.  Of  Debs 's  four  presidential  campaigns  we  shall 
deal  later.  They  have  been  mentioned  here  merely  by 
way  of  suggesting  the  national  character  and  import  of 
this  man,  many  of  whose  thousands  of  political  opponents 
are  among  his  personal  friends,  and  whose  breadth  of 
intellect,  spirit  and  vision  transcends  any  single  creed, 
dogma  or  political  party.  Although  the  Socialists  claim 
him  particularly,  and  he  glories  in  their  claim,  he  steps, 
in  fact,  far  beyond  the  Socialist  creed,  a  man  whose 
spiritual  figure  will  loom  larger  on  the  social  horizon 
with  the  passing  of  time.  It  may  be  that  Debs  will  be 
remembered  and  revered  in  history  long  after  his  im- 
mediate political  attachment  has  been  eclipsed  by  other 
creeds  and  formulas  looking  toward  the  perfect  day 
and  the  noble  spirit. 

Debs  stepped  into  a  felon's  cell  as  philosophically  as 
if  he  were  stepping  into  a  train  to  go  to  some  meeting 
place  to  address  a  large  audience.  He  donned  the  prison 
gray  at  Moundsville  and  the  prison  blue  at  Atlanta  with 
the  same  equanimity  with  which  he  would  put  on  civilian 


''AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE"  5 

clothing  at  home.  In  both  prison  experiences  he  has 
exhibited  the  same  irrefragable  determination  of  spirit 
and  mental  serenity  that  he  has  manifested  on  unnum- 
bered occasions  in  industrial  and  political  contests. 
There  was  no  boast  in  the  statement  which  he  gave  to 
me  just  before  he  entered  Moundsville  Prison  April 
13th,  1919: 

''I  enter  the  prison  doors  a  flaming  revolutionist — 
my  head  erect,  my  spirit  untamed  and  my  soul  uncon- 
querable. ' ' 

I  saw  Debs  first  at  the  Atlanta  Prison  on  June  18th. 
He  had  arrived  there  from  Moundsville  Prison  the  previ- 
ous Saturday  afternoon,  June  14th.  I  was  permitted 
by  Warden  Zerbst  to  see  Debs  only  because  I  presented 
a  letter  to  him  written  by  Warden  Joseph  Z.  Terrell  of 
Moundsville  Prison,  which  introduced  me  **as  a  writer 
of  The  New  York  Call,  a  close  personal  friend  of  Debs, ' ' 
and  stated  that  I  had  been  permitted  to  see  Debs  sev- 
eral times  and  that  ''not  once  did  he  deviate  from  my 
instructions  as  to  what  he  might  say  to  Debs,  or  the 
length  of  his  visit.*'  The  Atlanta  warden  was  insistent 
that  I  write  "no  sensational  interview"  in  case  he  should 
let  me  see  Debs.  The  government  did  not  permit  news- 
paper people  to  interview  prisoners,  he  said.  Sitting 
on  the  veranda  of  the  warden's  dwelling,  we  held  quite 
a  lengthy  talk  about  Debs  and  his  case. 

The  first  five  days  of  Debs's  stay  at  Atlanta  he  was 
locked  in  a  cell,  having  been  numbered  9653.  In  a  letter 
from  Warden  Terrell,  Zerbst  was  familiarized  with  the 
humane  treatment  and  consideration  accorded  Debs 
at  Moundsville,  and  Zerbst  was  requested  to  be  as  kind  to 
Debs  as  the  prison  rules  of  Atlanta  would  permit.  Zerbst 
told  me,  on  my  first  visit,  that  he  intended  to  place  Debs 
in  the  hospital,  in  a  clerical  position  similar  to  that  which 
he  held  at  Moundsville  for  the  two  months  that  he  was 
there.  In  my  presence,  Zerbst  so  informed  Debs  of  his 
intentions. 


6        DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

**"Well,  warden,  that  is  very  kind  of  you,  but  I  think 
I  should  like  to  have  a  little  manual  labor,  too.  I  am 
very  familiar  with  overalls.  At  home  in  Terre  Haute  I 
am  scarcely  out  of  blue  jeans.  I  am  the  official  swabber 
of  my  back  alley.  I  give  it  a  bath  every  day.  One  day 
at  home  while  I  was  sweeping  the  alley,  an  old  neighbor 
of  mine,  a  very  poor  man,  came  along  and  said,  'Look 
yere,  Mr.  Debs,  you're  keepin'  a  good  man  out  of  a  job 
by  sweepin'  that  alley  yourself.' 

**  'Well,  neighbor,  how  much  a  day  would  you  get 
for  doing  this  work  ? '  I  asked  him. 

"  'Two  dollars,  Mr.  Debs.' 

"So  I  gave  him  the  two  dollars  and  I  kept  the  job,  and 
we  were  both  happy  and  contented." 

I  left  the  prison  in  June  with  the  impression  that 
'Gene  would  be  treated  almost  as  well  as  he  had  been  at 
Moundsville.  His  friends  were  astonished  upon  learn- 
ing in  July  that  he  had  been  assigned  to  work  in  the 
clothing  department,  and  slept  in  a  cell  with  five  other 
prisoners;  that  to  all  outward  intents  and  purposes  this 
would  be  his  routine  life  for  the  coming  ten  years. 

In  July,  Zerbst  voluntarily  explained  that  Debs  had 
requested  his  present  employment  in  the  clothing  ware- 
house instead  of  the  hospital  assignment.  But  I  learnedl 
from  Debs's  own  lips  the  reason.  He  had  been  proffered 
the  hospital  assignment,  which  would  have  allowed  him 
to  sleep  in  a  dormitory  instead  of  a  cell,  and  a  bed  in- 
stead of  a  bunk.  When  he  went  to  the  hospital  one  of 
the  attaches,  remarking  to  another,  said,  "He  will 
cheat  the  government  out  of  his  sentence;  he'll  never 
live  ten  years."  Debs  heard  the  slur,  and  refused 
to  go  to  work  in  the  hospital,  but  he  did  not  explain  to 
Zerbst  the  reason,  and  that  official  never  knew,  believ- 
ing that ' '  Debs  prefers  the  other  work. ' '  At  Atlanta  the 
rigorous  prison  rules  were  applied  in  all  their  severity 
to  Debs  just  as  they  apply  to  the  1700  other  prisoners. 
Debs  expressed  himself  to  me  as  being  glad  that  this 


''AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE"  7! 

was  so.  He  refused  to  place  himself  in  the  position  of 
being  the  recipient  of  special  favors  that  were  not  ac- 
corded his  fellow  convicts.  "What  was  good  enough,  or, 
rather,  what  was  bad  enough  for  them,  was  equally  good  or 
bad  enough  for  him,  and  he  would  not  have  it  otherwise. 
As  to  the  treatment  accorded  Debs  at  Atlanta,  and 
his  reactions  to  it,  we  might  just  as  well  let  the  great 
humanist  speak  for  himself  in  his  letter  to  his  brother, 
Theodore,  at  Terre  Haute : 

Theodore  Debs,  U.  S.  Penitentiary, 

1218%  Wabash  avenue,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

Terre  Haute,  Indiana.  July  3d,  1919. 

My  dearest  Old  Pard: 

A  thousand  loving  greetings  to  you  and  Gertrude 
and  Marguerite  and  *'Babe"!  You  know  why,  under 
my  limited  writing  privileges,  you  have  not  heard  from 
me  before.  And  you  know,  too,  that  you  have  been  in 
my  heart  every  moment  since  we  embraced  in  love  and 
farewell  that  never-to-be-forgotten  night.  You  are  the 
sweetest,  faithfullest,  darling  of  a  brother  a  mortal  ever 
had.  Kate*  has  been  telling  me  all  about  how  good  and 
sweet  and  attentive  you  and  Gertrude  and  Marguerite 
have  been  to  her,  and  that  has  been  of  inexpressible 
solace  to  me — ^We  all  may  write  a  special  letter  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  and  it  is  this  letter  that  I'm  now  writing 
to  you.  Please  drop  a  line  to  Marguerite  and  tell  her 
why  I  can't  write  and  that  I  send  my  love  and  tenderest 
devotion  to  them  all.  The  ride  down  here  was  hot  and 
tiresome  but  I  stood  it  well.  Had  but  an  hour's  notice 
before  leaving  and  everything  was  kept  profoundly  se- 
cret. The  first  five  days  here  I  was  locked  in  my  cell 
day  and  night.  I'm  now  assigned  to  clerical  work  in 
Clothing  Room,  very  light,  and  in  charge  of  Mr.  Boyle 
and  Mr.  Barry (?),  two  very  fine  men.    We  work  from 

*  Mrs.  Katherine  M.  Debs,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  wife  of  Eugene 
V.  Debs. 


6       DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

8  till  near  4 — then  twenty  minutes  in  yard,  then  sup- 
per. We  are  in  our  cells  from  5  p.  m.  to  7  a.  m. — Satur- 
day and  Sunday  p.  m.  we  have  out  in  the  grounds  from 
about  1  to  4.  There  are  six  of  us  in  one  cell — ^my  five 
companions  are  the  finest  kind  of  fellows  and  I  love  them 
all.  One  is  a  German,  one  a  Jew,  one  an  Irishman  and 
two  Americans.  They  are  all  fine,  bright  fellows  and 
they  vie  with  each  other  in  being  kind  to  me.  Don't  let 
any  one  send  me  anything  as  it  cannot  come  to  me  under 
the  rules.  I  have  not  received  a  package  of  any  kind, 
nor  a  Socialist  paper  or  magazine  since  IVe  been  here. 
Cigars,  fruit,  candy,  eatables  cannot  come  to  me,  so 
please  notify  Germer  *  and  the  papers  not  to  send  me 
anything  as  it  will  not  reach  me.  Tell  the  comrades  I 
cannot  write  to  them.  I  can  write  but  one  letter  a  week 
and  that  to  my  family.  A  special  letter  requires  appli- 
cation in  writing,  special  permission,  and  must  be  con- 
fined to  the  one  subject  for  which  it  is  written,  which 
must  be  specified.  The  application  must  be  approved  by 
the  guard  before  it  can  be  passed  on — it  may  or  may 
not  be  granted  and  when  written  it  may  or  may  not  be 
sent.  I  am  treated  exactly  the  same  as  the  common  run 
of  prisoners  and  have  no  complaint  on  that  score.  The 
prisoner  here  to  whom  we  sent  a  little  money  for  to- 
bacco about  two  years  ago  has  been  very  kind  to  me 
and  returned  it  many  fold.  Bread  cast  upon  the  waters, 
etc.  I'm  in  perfect  health.  My  spirits  could  not  be 
more  serene  and  dauntless.  I  calmly  await  the  future. 
All's  well. 

My  love  and  kisses  to  you  all  and  forever, 

Gene. 
Eugene  Y.  Debs, 
No.  9653. 

Debs  himself  had  related  to  me  on  my  visit  in  July  the 

substantial  facts  concerning  his  treatment  and  estate 

*  Adolph  Germer,  National  Secretary,  Socialist  Party,  Chicago. 


''AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE '*  9 

at  Atlanta  Prison.  After  he  had  mentioned  the  different 
nationalities  of  his  five  cell  mates  he  said: 

''And  I  am  an  internationalist,  so  we  all  get  along 
splendidly  together." 

He  said  he  was  not  being  persecuted  at  the  prison 
because  of  his  social  ideas.  But  I  could  easily  under- 
stand without  a  word  from  him,  by  the  flash  of  his  eyes 
and  the  stiffness  of  his  jaws,  with  what  hatred  he  re- 
garded all  prisons,  and  with  what  sympathetic  under- 
standing he  entered  into  the  dull,  drab  lives  of  his  fel- 
low prisoners. 

"You  remember,"  he  said  to  me  on  one  of  my  visits 
to  his  cell,  "you  remember  what  Lincoln  said  when  at 
New  Orleans  he  saw  a  young  negress  being  sold  on  the 
block?  He  said:  'If  I  ever  get  a  chance  I'll  hit  at  the 
very  foundations  of  chattel  slavery,  and  1 11  hit  it  hard.  ^ 
Well,  if  I  ever  get  out  of  here  alive  I'll  strike  at  the 
prison  system  harder  than  Lincoln  ever  hit  at  chattel 
slavery." 

At  Atlanta  Debs  and  his  five  cell  mates  alternated  in 
teams  of  two  each  week  sweeping,  swabbing  and  washing 
the  cell,  which  was  neither  a  difficult  job  nor  a  long 
one  for  six  healthy  and  normal  human  beings,  consider- 
ing the  fact  that  the  cell  was  only  ten  by  eight  feet.  In 
the  sextette  cells  there  are  three  steel  bunks  in  tiers  on 
each  side  of  the  walls.  A  thin  straw  mattress  is  thrown 
over  the  springless  steel  frame  of  each.  A  rough  sheet 
and  a  blanket  make  up  the  clothing. 

"Last  week,"  said  Debs,  "came  the  turn  of  my  Jewish 
comrade  and  me  to  sweep  and  wash  the  floor  and  walls. 
A  line  in  the  cement  floor  running  down  the  middle  of 
the  cell  furnished  the  division  of  our  labor.  I  had  my 
back  turned  to  the  fellow,  as  I  was  washing  the  wall 
between  the  bunks,  and  when  I  turned  around  I  saw  that 
the  rascal  had  hunched  over  on  my  side  of  the  line  and 
had  washed  almost  the  entire  floor.  I  naturally  gave 
him  a  good  talking  to,  and  told  him  that  since  the  govern- 


10      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

ment  had  given  me  a  job  I  wanted  to  fill  it,  and  that 
he  should  *  shinny  over  on  his  own  side.'  " 

Debs  has  not  often  been  in  accord  with  the  ideas  of 
priests  and  preachers,  and  when  he  was  visited  in  his  cell 
at  Atlanta  by  them  the  occasion  presented  an  opportun- 
ity to  deliver  himself  on  the  subject,  as  he  put  it,  of 
churchianity  versus  Christianity. 

''I  have  already  had  two  visitors,"  said  Debs,  with 
a  merry  twinkle  in  his  eye,  **yes,  one  a  priest  and  the 
other  a  preacher.  They  came  at  different  times,  but  on 
the  same  mission,  to  save  my  soul.  They  both  wanted 
to  know  what  religion  I  professed.  I  told  them  that 
their  churches  and  their  theologies  were  not  for  me — I 
have  no  use  for  them.  Their  tendencies  are  not  to  serve 
but  to  enslave.  To  conceal  rather  than  reveal  the  true 
and  vital  significance  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.'* 
So,  Debs  said  he  told  the  two  clergymen  that  he  be- 
longed to  no  church,  and  bowed  to  no  image.  He  said 
he  believed  firmly  in  immortality,  and  saw  the  spiritual 
likeness  of  God  in  the  face  of  every  breathing  being. 

*'I  told  my  friends  of  the  cloth  that  I  did  not  be- 
lieve Christ  was  meek  and  lowly,  but  a  real,  living,  vital 
agitator  who  went  into  the  Temple  with  a  lash  and  a 
knout  and  whipped  the  oppressors  of  the  poor,  routed 
them  out  of  doors  and  spilled  their  blood-got  silver  on 
the  floor.  He  told  the  robbed  and  misruled  and  exploited 
and  driven  people  to  disobey  their  plunderers!  he  de- 
nounced the  profiteers,  and  it  was  for  this  that  they 
nailed  his  quivering  body  to  the  cross  and  spiked  it  to 
the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  not  because  he  told  men  to  love 
one  another.  That  was  a  harmless  doctrine.  But  when 
he  touched  their  profits  and  denounced  them  before  their 
people  he  was  then  marked  for  crucifixion.  I  did  the 
same  thing  in  a  different  way,"  continued  Debs  on  this 
occasion,  speaking  in  a  most  impersonal  matter-of-fact 
manner,  with  not  the  slightest  suggestion  of  self-praise, 
but  rather  in  a  vein  of  deep  humility.    ''I  did  the  same 


"AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE ''  lH 

thing,  but  I  fared  better  than  Christ.  They  nailed  hini 
to  the  cross  and  they  threw  me  in  here.  We  have  pro- 
gressed quite  some  in  two  thousand  years.  If  Christ 
could  go  to  the  cross  for  his  principles,  surely  I  can  go 
to  prison  for  mine,  and  I  want  nothing  more  than  the 
strength  to  be  able  to  serve  in  this  slight  way  those  wha 
have  done  so  much  for  me.  To  be  here  for  the  reason 
that  I  am  here  is  a  high  privilege,  and,  in  a  sense,  a 
vindication  of  many  things,  all  of  which  will  come  out 
all  right  in  God's  good  time.  All  of  us  but  need  the 
strength  to  face  the  future  together.*' 

Debs  is  a  most  religious  man.  He  accepts  Literally 
what  he  conceives  to  be  the  principles  for  which  Christ 
was  crucified.  He  is  a  Christian  to  whom  the  church 
offers  nothing  but  an  apology  for  Christ.  He  was  a 
personal  friend  of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  and  he  admired 
the  speeches  and  writings  of  the  great  agnostic,  and 
understood  their  significance  as  few  men  in  that  period 
did.  Debs  is  preeminently  an  agitator,  a  crusader.  He 
has  lived  close  to  the  pulsing  heart  of  the  human  race. 
He  accepts  the  Socialist  philosophy  because  he  is  sure 
it  can  be  made  to  serve  the  poor  and  make  them  rich  in 
the  good  things  of  life.  In  his  heart  and  soul  there  is  no 
trace  of  hatred  for  a  living  soul,  and  he  has  said  time  and 
again  that  he  would  serve  those  who  oppose  him  just  as 
much  as  those  who  are  with  him.  Few  men  in  America 
have  possessed  the  gift  of  oratory  that  belongs  to  Eugene 
V.  Debs.  What  he  once  said  of  Ingersoll,  that  "flowers 
blossom  upon  his  lips,  and  you  can  hear  the  ripple  of 
silver  springs  in  the  music  of  his  voice, ' '  is  likewise  said 
of  him.  In  his  forty  years  of  agitation  in  behalf  of  the 
workers  and  the  organized  labor  movement  of  America 
Debs  has  addressed  millions  of  people.  Once  when  he 
came  to  New  York  to  make  an  address  at  Madison  Square 
Garden  the  hall  was  crowded  to  the  last  inch.  Lincoln 
Steffens,  the  journalist,  had  a  seat  offered  him  on  the 
platform  which  he  declined,  saying  he  would  rather  go 


12      DEBS— AUTHOEIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

down  under  the  stage  so  that  he  might  be  able  "to  feel 
'Gene's  vibrations.'* 

Debs  was  born  in  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  November 
5,  1855.  In  his  sixty-fifth  year  he  enjoys  fair  health, 
despite  the  results  of  a  severe  nervous  breakdown  a  few 
years  ago  which  left  him  prostrated  for  some  while.  He 
stands  a  little  over  six  feet,  is  slender  and  gaunt  like 
Lincoln.  When  speaking,  both  in  public  and  in  private, 
he  gesticulates  frequently  with  his  large,  lean  right 
hand,  extending  and  separating  his  fingers,  with  his 
thumb  curved  far  back.  The  gestures  of  that  right  hand 
are  a  vital  part  of  his  talk,  and  in  his  grip  you  can  feel 
the  sincere,  pulsing  heart  of  the  man.  His  baldness, 
which  extends  back  beyond  the  crown  of  his  head,  ac- 
centuates the  myriad  tiny  veins,  lines  of  suffering,  and 
the  valleys  and  crevices  in  his  face. 

Debs  has  made  his  living  for  many  years  by  his 
speeches  and  writings,  although  by  far  the  most  of  his 
speeches  have  been  delivered  without  any  thought  of 
pay,  and  the  major  portion  of  his  writings  have  been 
given  freely  to  the  small  daily  and  weekly  papers  whose 
political  and  economic  doctrines  he  supports.  Scores  of 
weeklies  and  radical  publications  claim  him  as  their 
** contributing  editor,"  although  most  of  them  are  finan- 
cially unable  to  contribute  toward  his  material  well- 
being.  For  many  years  an  article  in  any  one  of  these 
publications  signed  by  his  name  has  been  considered  a 
**star  feature,"  and  is  reprinted  again  and  again  until 
it  has  run  its  printorial  course  from  coast  to  coast,  from 
the  Gulf  to  the  regions  farthest  north.  He  has  had 
compensatory  attachments  with  The  Appeal  to  Beason 
of  Girard,  Kansas,  when  that  free-lance  Socialist  weekly 
was  conducted  under  a  former  management,  and  later 
he  wrote  a  weekly  editorial  for  The  Bip  Saw,  another 
free-lance  Socialist  weekly,  published  at  St.  Louis,  and 
which  later  became  known  as  The  Social  Bevolution  just 
before  it  went  into  eclipse.    He  has  written  for  a  num- 


**AS  FIRM  AS  GRANITE  *'  13 

ber  of  the  more  widely  known  publications,  too,  and 
always  in  the  style  and  manner  of  an  agitator,  a  cru- 
sader. Several  scores  of  his  most  significant  articles 
have  been  reprinted  in  leaflet  and  pamphlet  form,  and 
have  had  tremendous  sales  in  which  Debs  has  almost 
never  shared,  the  profits  going  into  the  coffers  of  the 
particular  enterprising  Socialist  Party  branch  to  en- 
able it  to  increase  its  propaganda  for  Socialism  in  its 
community.  Times  uncounted  he  has  traveled  long  dis- 
tances to  address  meetings,  paying  every  expense,  even 
railroad  fare,  out  of  his  own  pocket.  He  is  reckless  with 
money — gives  it  away.  Many  stories  have  been  told 
about  him  concerning  the  number  of  overcoats  he  has 
given  to  poor  derelicts  whom  he  chanced  to  meet  in  his 
travels  about  the  country.  Once  he  came  to  Philadelphia 
to  address  a  large  rally  of  his  party.  He  was  met  at  the 
railroad  depot  by  friends  and  an  escorting  committee. 
He  saw  in  the  group  an  old  and  staunch  friend,  Horace 
Traubel,  poet  and  editor,  a  man  of  his  own  beliefs. 

''Horace,  have  you  got  any  money?"  Debs  asked, 
when  the  greetings  were  over.  Traubel  had  in  his  pocket 
twenty  dollars  which  he  gave  over  to  Debs  without  fur- 
ther word. 

**I  haven't  got  a  cent,"  explained  Debs.  ''On  my 
train  coming  east  there  was  an  old  woman  with  several 
children,  and  the  poor  soul  had  lost  her  ticket.  The  con- 
ductor was  going  to  put  her  off.  I  gave  her  every  cent 
I  had  so  she  could  go  on  her  way."  And  Traubel  was 
reimbursed  by  Debs  as  soon  as  the  latter  arrived  home 
at  Terre  Haute. 

The  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  his  kindnesses  have 
been  the  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  his  powerful  attacks 
against  whatever  he  considered  to  be  injustice.  Keenly, 
persistently, he  has  sought  his  goal.  Bitter  criticism,  pun- 
ishment, could  not  affect  the  vision  in  his  soul.  Sixty- 
four  years  of  age — a  ten-year  term  of  imprisonment — 
simply,  serenely,  he  took  that  vision  with  him  into  his  cell. 


CHAPTER  II 
TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL 

THE  Debs  case  was  the  result  of  a  speech  made  by- 
Debs  in  Canton,  Ohio,  June  16,  1918,  before  the 
Ohio  State  Socialist  Convention.*  He  had  made  a  num- 
ber of  other  speeches  to  his  comrades  in  the  Socialist 
movement  at  various  times  during  the  year  from  April 
6, 1917,  the  date  on  which  Congress  declared  that  a  state 
of  war  existed  between  the  United  States  and  the  Ger- 
man Imperial  Government,  up  to  the  Canton  address. 
On  June  20,  1918,  a  Federal  grand  jury  empaneled  at 
Cleveland,  in  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  Northern  Dis- 
trict of  Ohio,  returned  an  indictment,  consisting  of  ten 
counts,  against  Debs  under  Section  Three  of  the  Act  of 
June  15,  1917,  as  amended  by  Act  of  May  16,  1918,  and 
known  as  the  Espionage  Law.  On  September  9,  1918, 
Debs  went  to  trial  at  Cleveland  before  Judge  D.  C. 
Westenhaver.  He  was  represented  by  Seymour  Sted- 
man,  of  Chicago ;  William  A.  Cunnea,  of  Chicago ;  Joseph 
W.  Sharts,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  and  Morris  Wolf,  of  Cleve- 
land. The  government  was  represented  by  United  States 
District  Attorney  E.  S.  Wertz,  assisted  by  F.  B.  Kav- 
anaugh,  and  one  or  two  other  assistants.  On  the  previ- 
ous day,  Sunday  afternoon,  Debs,  at  his  home  in  Terre 
Haute,  calmly  discussed  his  case  with  his  counsel,  feeling 
almost  certain  that  the  following  week  would  find  him 
convicted.  With  the  knowledge  of  the  fates  of  several 
hundred  other  Socialists,  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World,  Bible  students  and  political  and  religious  free- 

*  Salient  extracts  from  the  Canton  speech  may  be  found  in  the 
Appendix. 

14 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         15 

thinkers,  convicts  under  the  Espionage  Act,  still  fresh 
in  his  mind,  Debs  could  not  well  be  sanguine  concerning 
his  own  fate. 

He  took  the  position  from  the  beginning  of  his  predica- 
ment that  the  Federal  Constitution  protected,  or  was 
intended  to  so  protect,  his  rights  as  an  American  citizen, 
born  in  the  United  States.  He  stood  squarely  upon  the 
First  Amendment : 

''Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establish- 
ment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof, 
or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech  or  of  the  press,  or 
the  right  of  the  people  peacefully  to  assemble  and  to  peti- 
tion the  Government  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances." 

Over  and  against  that  guarantee  was  the  Espionage 
Act,  passed  originally  June  15,  1917,  and  amended  May 
16,  1918.    The  original  act  was  as  follows: 

(Title  I,  Section  3.)  ''Whoever,  when  the  United 
States  is  at  war,  shall  (1)  wilfully  make  or  convey  false 
reports  or  false  statements  with  intent  to  interfere  with 
the  operation  or  success  of  the  military  or  naval  forces 
of  the  United  States  or  to  promote  the  success  of  its 
enemies,  and  whoever,  when  the  United  States  is  at  war, 
(2)  shall  wilfully  cause  or  attempt  to  cause  insubordina- 
tion, disloyalty,  mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty,  in  the  mili- 
tary or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or  shall  (3) 
wilfully  obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of 
the  United  States,  to  the  injury  of  the  service  or  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  more 
than  ten  thousand  dollars  or  imprisonment  for  not  more 
than  twenty  years,  or  both." 

Of  far  more  drastic  nature  was  the  amended  act : 

"Whoever,  when  the  United  States  is  at  war,  shall 
wilfully  make  or  convey  false  reports  or  false  statements 
with  intent  to  interfere  with  the  operation  or  success 
of  the  military  or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or 
to  promote  the  success  of  its  enemies,  or  shall  wilfully 
make  or  convey  false  reports  or  false  statements,  or  say 


16      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

or  do  anything  except  by  way  of  bona  fide  and  not  dis- 
loyal advice  to  an  investor  or  investors,  with  intent  to 
obstruct  the  sale  by  the  United  States  of  bonds  or  other 
securities  of  the  United  States  or  the  making  of  loans  by 
or  to  the  United  States,  and  whoever,  when  the  United 
States  is  at  war,  shall  wilfully  cause,  or  attempt  to  cause, 
or  incite  or  attempt  to  incite,  insubordination,  disloyalty, 
mutiny,  or  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  or  naval  forces 
of  the  United  States,  or  shall  wilfully  obstruct  or  at- 
tempt to  obstruct  the  recruiting  or  enlistment  service  of 
the  United  States,  and  whoever,  when  the  United  States 
is  at  war,  shall  wilfully  utter,  print,  write  or  publish 
any  disloyal,  profane,  scurrilous  or  abusive  language 
about  the  form  of  government  of  the  United  States,  or 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  or  the  military  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States,  or  the  flag  of  the 
United  States,  or  the  uniform  of  the  army  or  navy  of 
the  United  States,  or  any  language  intended  to  bring  the 
form  of  government  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  or  the  military  or  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States,  or  the  flag  of  the  United 
States,  or  the  uniform  of  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United 
States  into  contempt,  scorn,  contumely,  or  disrepute,  or 
shall  wilfully  utter,  print,  write  or  publish  any  language 
intended  to  incite,  provoke  or  encourage  resistance  to 
the  United  States,  or  to  promote  the  cause  of  its  ene- 
mies, or  shall  wilfully  display  the  flag  of  any  foreign 
enemy,  or  shall  wilfully,  by  utterance,  writing,  printing, 
publication  or  language  spoken,  urge,  incite  or  advocate 
any  curtailment  of  production  in  this  country  of  any 
thing  or  things,  product  or  products,  necessary  or  essen- 
tial to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  in  which  the  United 
States  may  be  engaged,  with  intent  by  such  curtailment 
to  cripple  or  hinder  the  United  States  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  and  whoever  shall  wilfully  advocate,  teach, 
defend,  or  suggest  the  doing  of  any  of  the  acts  or  things 
in  this  section  enumerated,  and  whoever  shall,  by  word 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         17 

or  act,  support  or  favor  the  cause  of  any  country  with 
which  the  United  States  is  at  war,  or  by  word  or  act  op- 
pose the  cause  of  the  United  States  therein,  shall  be  pun- 
ished by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars 
or  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  twenty  years,  or 
both.'' 

Several  hours  before  Judge  Westenhaver 's  court  con- 
vened that  morning"  Debs  was  busy  every  moment,  both 
at  the  Holland  Hotel  and  the  Gillsy  House,  around  the 
corner,  holding  impromptu  receptions  with  his  friends 
and  counsel,  seeming  to  be  wholly  oblivious  of  the  ordeal 
through  which  he  must  pass  in  the  coming  week.  He 
was  calm  and  composed,  and  to  one  anxious  friend,  who 
expressed  deep  concern  over  the  outcome  of  the  trial. 
Debs  said:  "This  is  but  another  milepost  along  the 
pathway  of  progress.  We  shall  not  tarry  here  very 
long. ' '  As  he  entered  the  courtroom,  clad  in  fresh  sum- 
mer gray,  he  was  instantly  surrounded  by  a  large  group 
of  his  fellow  Socialists  who  had  been  standing  in  line 
outside  the  judicial  doors  for  several  hours  in  the  hope 
of  getting  a  seat  to  witness  the  trial  of  their  chief.  Debs, 
walking  with  one  of  his  counsel,  took  his  seat  at  a  table, 
folded  his  hands  in  his  lap,  and  appeared  eager  for  the 
curtain  to  rise  on  what  was  to  be  the  climax  of  his  career. 
He  followed  closely  the  examination  of  the  veniremen, 
appearing  to  be  not  so  much  concerned  as  a  defendant, 
as  interested  as  a  spectator.  After  four  hours  of  ex- 
amination and  cross-examination  of  a  score  or  more  of 
prospective  talesmen,  twelve  men  were  chosen  to  try 
the  case.  A  jury  of  farmers  had  been  selected.  They 
all  evinced  their  thorough  nationalism  by  the  answers 
they  gave  to  pertinent  and  leading  questions  of  Debs's 
counsel.  All  believed  in  the  form  of  government  of  the 
United  States,  its  Constitution,  including  the  First 
Amendment,  which  several  of  them  had  heard  read  and 
explained  for  the  first  time  in  their  lives,  and  disclaimed 
any  prejudice  against  Debs  or  the  party  he  represented. 


18     DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Assistant  District  Attorney  Kavanaugli  presented  the 
government's  case  to  the  jury.  He  was  a  prepossessing 
young  man,  and  accepted  the  duty  that  lay  before  him 
with  ardor  and  vehemence. 

*'This  man  is  the  palpitating  pulse  of  the  sedition 
crusade/'  he  exclaimed,  adding  later,  ''by  his  words 
shall  he  be  judged^  and  by  his  words  shall  he  be  con- 
demned." His  address  lasted  the  better  part  of  an 
hour,  and,  when  it  was  finished,  Debs  leaned  across  the 
counsel  table  and  complimented  his  adversary  upon  his 
efforts. 

Stedman,  speaking  for  Debs,  justified,  by  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  everything  his  client  had 
said  in  his  Canton  speech,  and  when  he  said  to  the  jury : 
**  You  would  not  indict  "Woodrow  Wilson  because  he  wrote 
in  his  book,  '  The  New  Freedom, '  that  wars  are  brought 
by  the  rulers  and  not  by  the  people, ' '  there  was  applause 
in  the  rear  of  the  courtroom.  The  court  quickly  smoth- 
ered this  demonstration,  and  the  participants,  including 
Mrs.  Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  a  New  York  worker  in  the  So- 
cialist cause,  who  at  that  time  was  herself  convicted  of 
violating  the  Espionage  Act,  were  fined.  Mrs.  Stokes, 
who  sat  by  Debs  during  his  trial,  was  enjoying  her  free- 
dom under  bail  pending  the  disposition  of  appeal  of  her 
case.  Stedman  paid  tribute  to  Debs  and  his  life  work, 
concluding  with  the  words : 

**We  ask  you  to  judge  Eugene  V.  Debs  by  his  life,  his 
deeds  and  his  works.  If  you  will  do  that  we  shall  abide 
by  your  verdict." 

Clyde  R.  Miller,  a  newspaper  reporter  of  Cleveland, 
was  the  chief  witness  for  the  government.  He  testified 
that  he  was  sent  by  his  paper,  the  Cleveland  Plain 
Dealer,  to  report  the  proceedings  of  the  Socialist  con- 
vention at  Canton  on  June  16th,  and  that  he  had  inter- 
viewed Debs  at  the  Courtland  Hotel  in  Canton  just 
before  he  delivered  his  address.  Miller  testified  that  he 
had  particularly  asked  Debs  whether  the  newspapers 


TRIAL,  CONYICTION  AND  APPEAL  19 

had  correctly  reported  him  when  they  stated  that  he  had 
repudiated  the  St.  Louis  Majority  Eeport  of  the  So- 
cialist Party.*  Denying  the  statements  that  he  had  re- 
pudiated the  anti-war  proclamation  of  his  party,  Miller 
testified  that  Debs  said  in  that  interview: 

*'I  approved  of  the  adoption  of  the  platform  in  form 
and  substance  at  the  time  it  was  created,  but  in  the 
light  of  the  Russian  situation  I  think  we  should  have 
put  forth  a  restatement  of  the  aims  of  the  Socialist 
Party.''  Miller  also  quoted  Debs  as  saying  to  him: 
**In  a  land  where  they  are  fighting  for  democracy  one 
must  be  very  careful  what  one  says  if  one  would  keep 
out  of  jaiL" 

*'He  told  me  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  Bolsheviki 
of  Russia  were  the  inspiration  of  the  world,  and  that 
he  hoped  their  ideas  would  come  to  prevail  in  America, ' ' 
Miller  swore.  *'He  told  me,  further,  that  the  Socialist 
movement  in  America  was  growing  numerically  and 
morally  as  a  direct  result  of  the  arrest  and  conviction 
of  radicals  under  the  Espionage  Law."  There  was 
nothing  venomous  in  the  character  or  quality  of  the 
young  reporter's  testimony.  He  appeared  rather  to  be 
personally  sympathetic  toward  Debs,  and  to  be  laboring 
under  some  discomfiture  in  having  to  testify  against 
the  old  agitator. 

The  most  astonishing  revelation  of  the  trial  came 
with  the  testimony  of  Virgil  Steiner,  a  youth  of  twenty 
years,  when  he  said  that  he  had  been  pressed  into  serv- 
ice by  the  Department  of  Justice  to  take  a  stenographic 
report  of  Debs's  address  at  Canton,  despite  his  admis- 
sion on  the  witness  stand  that  his  knowledge  of  short- 
hand was  so  meager  that  he  had  practiced  it  but  little 
even  in  common  office  dictation.  The  young  man  ad- 
mitted^ that  he  was  hopelessly  at  a  loss  in  following 

*  Proclamation  of  the  Socialist  Party  expressing  opposition  to 
the  war.  Adopted  in  national  convention  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  April 
5,  1917,  and  known  as  the  St.  Louis  Majority  Eeport,  other  reports 
having  been  offered. 


20      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Debs's  speech,  and  that  very  early  in  the  address  he 
abandoned  all  attempt  to  follow  Debs  verbatim.  He 
admitted  to  the  court  that  he  would  rest  between  long 
sentences  and  exclamations,  and  then  would  "jump  in" 
to  follow  the  thread  of  the  discourse.  This  is  all  the 
more  significant  when  we  consider  the  fact  that  it  was 
Steiner's  version  upon  which  the  indictment  against 
Debs  was  drawn,  coupled  with  the  testimony  of  Miller 
before  the  grand  jury.  At  the  time  the  Department  of 
Justice  agents  at  Canton  pressed  Steiner  into  service 
as  a  government  stenographer  to  take  a  speech  of  a  man 
who  would  probably  be  sent  to  the  penitentiary  the 
lad  was  employed  by  a  motor  ear  concern  at  Canton. 
The  Steiner  version  was  read  to  the  jury  and  only 
forty  minutes  were  required  for  the  reading,  whereas 
Debs  talked  for  about  two  hours  on  that  occasion.  Con- 
trasted with  the  Steiner  version,  Edward  B.  Sterling, 
32  years  old,  a  lawyer  of  Canton,  was  employed  by  the 
Ohio  State  Socialist  Convention  to  take  in  shorthand 
and  transcribe  the  entire  Canton  speech.  Sterling  told 
the  court  that  he  had  twelve  years'  experience  as  a 
shorthand  reporter,  and  had  *' taken  down"  many 
speeches  of  representatives  and  senators  in  Congress. 
Both  shorthand  reporters  were  made  to  read  to  the  jury 
their  respective  versions.  Sterling  read  with  great  ef- 
fect, and  he  seemed  to  emphasize  of  his  own  accord  the 
high  lights,  oratorical  flights  and  dramatic  climaxes 
contained  in  the  bulky  printed  manuscript  he  held  in 
his  hand.  There  were  many  moist  eyes  in  the  court 
room  while  Sterling  read  the  speech,  and  the  jury  gave 
it  strict  attention.  Only  the  prosecutors  seemed  to 
effect  infinite  weariness.  With  minor  and  slight  reserva- 
tions Debs  stated  that  the  Sterling  version  was  correct. 
During  a  ten-minute  recess  that  day  Debs  walked  to 
the  back  of  the  court  room  where  young  Steiner  was 
sitting,  and,  putting  his  hands  on  the  shoulders  of  the. 
boy,  assured  him  that  he  had  done  the  best  he  could 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  21 

under  the  circumstances,  and  told  him  not  to  feel  hu- 
miliated in  the  least,  that  his  abilities  in  that  line  had 
been  unfairly  taxed.  The  youth  was  nearly  in  tears  as 
'Gene  gently  patted  his  face  and  told  him  not  to  worry. 
On  another  similar  occasion,  when  Miller  had  concluded 
his  testimony  and  took  his  seat  at  the  press  table,  'Gene 
left  his  chair  and  leaning  over  the  shoulders  of  news- 
paper men  said  very  softly  to  Miller: 

**Mr.  Miller,  all  that  you  said  about  me  is  true.  You 
quoted  me  straight  and  accurate.  I  don 't  want  you  ever 
to  feel  that  you  have  done  me  an  injury  by  testifying 
against  me.  You  had  to  do  it,  and  you  did  it  like  a 
gentleman.  We  all  do  what  we  cannot  possibly  help 
doing,  and  no  blame  or  stigma  attaches  to  any  of  us 
for  doing  that." 

On  Wednesday,  September  11,  shortly  before  11 
o'clock  counsel  for  the  government  informed  the  court 
that  the  prosecution  had  presented  its  case.  The  heads 
of  Debs's  four  lawyers  bent  together  in  a  conference 
that  lasted  exactly  one  minute ;  then  Stedman  informed 
the  court  that  the  defense  also  rested  its  case.  Debs 
had  been  fully  cognizant  of  this  move  beforehand.  I 
am  told  that  it  was  originally  his  desire  to  caution  his 
attorneys  against  making  even  an  opening  statement  in 
his  behalf.  If  such  had  been  his  intention,  it  was  doubt- 
lessly prompted  by  his  feeling  of  certainty  that,  under 
the  circumstances,  it  would  be  useless  to  make  a  defense 
when  he  held,  in  the  first  instance,  that  the  Espionage 
Act  was  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion, and  that  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  itself  had 
never  been  determined  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

Debs  and  his  counsel  retired  to  an  ante-room  and 
when  they  returned  Stedman  briefly  announced  to  the 
court:  *'Mr.  Debs  will  plead  his  case  before  the  jury." 
Debs  had  been  working  during  the  night  on  the  address 
that  he  was  now  to  make.  I  remember  seeing  him  in 
his  room  at  the  Gillsy  House  from  my  own  room,  just 


22      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

across  an  areaway,  sitting  at  his  window,  clad  in  pa- 
jamas, calmly  smoking  a  long  black  cigar,  with  a  paper 
pad  resting  on  his  knee  and  jotting  down  notes  for  the 
speech  that  will,  it  has  been  said,  take  its  place  as  a 
classic  of  oratory  and  as  a  libertarian  exposition.  Cer- 
tainly, it  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  speeches  deliv- 
ered by  a  defendant  before  a  jury. 

Assistant  District  Attorney  Breitenstein  opened  final 
arguments  for  the  government.  He  paid  a  glowing  trib- 
ute to  Debs  as  a  man,  but  condemned  his  word.  ''God 
only  knows  the  harm  he  has  done  the  United  States  by 
his  fiery  eloquence,"  said  the  prosecutor.  Debs  had  a 
kind  word  and  warm  smile  for  the  prosecutor  when  he 
had  concluded,  and  they  exchanged  handclasps  across 
the  table.  At  that  moment  that  table  seemed  wider 
than  the  seven  seas,  so  far  apart  were  the  intellectual 
and  social  leanings  of  these  two  men,  now  smiling  into 
each  other's  face  in  comradely  manner. 

The  luncheon  recess  was  announced  by  the  court. 
In  the  corridor  Debs  was  instantly  surrounded  by  an 
ever-growing  group  of  friends  and  followers.  With  diffi- 
culty he  made  his  way  to  the  elevator,  and  walked 
straight  to  his  hotel.  He  partook  of  no  luncheon,  pre- 
ferring to  go  to  his  room  to  be  alone  with  his  thoughts. 
Long  before  the  court  was  opened  for  afternoon  session 
the  federal  building  was  jammed  with  struggling  hu- 
manity, trying  to  edge  its  way  toward  the  courtroom. 
The  doors  were  flung  open  £ind  there  ensued  a  veritable 
stampede  for  seats  on  the  painfully  straight  benches. 
Spectators  perched  themselves  on  window  ledges,  and 
crowded  every  aisle.  When  the  last  available  inch  had 
been  occupied  the  doors  were  locked,  shutting  out  ten 
times  as  many  people  as  were  in  the  room.  The  mo- 
ment was  tense  with  dramatic  interest  and  expectancy. 
Judge  Westenhaver  warned  the  spectators  that  any  at- 
tempt to  applaud  or  otherwise  show  approval  or  disap- 
proval would  be  sharply  and  sternly  dealt  with.     The 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         23 

twelve  men  in  the  jury  box  shifted  to  attention  in  their 
seats.  Reporters  had  sharpened  the  points  of  a  dozen 
pencils  in  order  not  to  miss  a  word  of  Debs's  plea  for  his 
rights  as  an  American  citizen. 

He  arose  from  his  seat  beside  his  counsel,  and  slowly 
walked  over  to  the  jury.  With  right  hand  extended, 
the  arm  crooked  at  the  elbow,  the  left  hand  placed 
firmly  at  his  side,  he  commenced. 

*'May  it  please  the  Court,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Jury:* 

*'For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  appear  before  a  jury 
in  a  court  of  law  to  answer  to  an  indictment  for  crime. 
I  am  not  a  lawyer.  I  know  little  about  court  procedure, 
about  the  rules  of  evidence  or  legal  practice.  I  know 
only  that  you  gentlemen  are  to  hear  the  evidence  brought 
against  me,  that  the  Court  is  to  instruct  you  in  the  law, 
and  that  you  are  then  to  determine  by  your  verdict 
whether  I  shall  be  branded  with  criminal  guilt  and  be 
consigned,  perhaps  to  the  end  of  my  life,  in  a  felon's 
cell. 

''Gentlemen,  I  do  not  fear  to  face  you  in  this  hour 
of  accusation,  nor  do  I  shrink  from  the  consequences  of 
my  utterances  or  my  acts.  Standing  before  you,  charged 
as  I  am  with  crime,  I  can  yet  look  the  Court  in  the 
face,  I  can  look  you  in  the  face,  I  can  look  the  world 
in  the  face,  for  in  my  conscience,  in  my  soul,  there 
is  festering  no  accusation  of  guilt. 

''Permit  me  to  say  in  the  first  place  that  I  am  en- 
tirely satisfied  with  the  Court's  ruling.  I  have  no  fault 
to  find  with  the  district  attorney  or  with  the  counsel  for 
the  prosecution. 

"I  wish  to  admit  the  truth  of  all  that  has  been  testi- 
fied to  in  this  proceeding.  I  have  no  disposition  to  deny 
anything  that  is  true.  I  would  not,  if  I  could,  escape 
the  results  of  an  adverse  verdict.     I  would  not  retract 

*  Because  of  its  importance.  Debs 's  speech  has  been  included  in 
its  entirety. 


24      DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

a  word  that  I  have  uttered  that  I  believe  to  be  true  to 
save  myself  from  going  to  the  penitentiary  for  the  rest 
of  my  days. 

**I  am  charged  in  the  indictment,  first,  that  I  did 
willfully  cause  and  attempt  to  cause  or  incite,  insubordi- 
nation, mutiny,  disloyalty  and  refusal  of  duty  within 
the  military  forces  of  the  United  States;  that  I  did  ob- 
struct and  attempt  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  and  enlist- 
ment service  of  the  United  States.  I  am  charged  also 
with  uttering  words  intended  to  bring  into  contempt  and 
disrepute  the  form  of  government  of  the  United  States, 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  military  forces 
of  the  United  States,  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  uniform  of  the  army  and  navy.'* 

The  Court:  **Mr.  Debs,  permit  me  to  say  that  the 
last  charge  which  you  have  read  to  the  jury  has  been 
withdrawn  from  their  consideration  by  the  Court." 

Debs  :    ' '  Pardon  me.    I  was  not  aware  of  that. ' ' 

The  Court:  ''I  have  directed  a  verdict  of  'not 
guilty'  as  to  that  charge." 

Debs:  ''I  am  accused  further  of  uttering  words  in- 
tended to  procure  and  incite  resistance  to  the  United 
States  and  to  promote  the  cause  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government. 

*' Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  report  of  my  speech 
at  Canton  on  June  16,  and  I  submit  that  there  is  not 
a  word  in  that  speech  to  warrant  these  charges.  I  ad- 
mit having  delivered  the  speech.  I  admit  the  accuracy 
of  the  speech  in  all  of  its  main  features  as  reported  in 
this  proceeding.  There  were  two  distinct  reports.  They 
vary  somewhat,  but  they  are  agreed  upon  all  the  ma- 
terial statements  embodied  in  that  speech. 

**In  what  I  had  to  say  there  my  purpose  was  to  edu- 
cate the  people  to  understand  something  about  the 
social  system  in  which  we  live  and  to  prepare  them  to 
change  this  system  by  perfectly  peaceable  and  orderly 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         25 

means  into  what  I,  as  a  Socialist,  conceive  to  be  a  real  de- 
mocracy. 

"From  what  you  heard  in  the  address  of  counsel  for 
the  prosecution,  you  might  naturally  infer  that  I  am 
an  advocate  of  force  and  violence.  It  is  not  true.  I 
have  never  advocated  violence  in  any  form.  I  always 
believed  in  education,  in  intelligence,  in  enlightenment, 
and  I  have  always  made  my  appeal  to  the  reason  and 
to  the  conscience  of  the  people. 

*'I  admit  being  opposed  to  the  present  form  of  gov- 
ernment. I  admit  being  opposed  to  the  present  social 
system.  I  am  doing  what  little  I  can,  and  have  been 
for  many  years,  to  bring  about  a  change  that  shall  do 
away  with  the  rule  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  by 
a  relatively  small  class  and  establish  in  this  country  an 
industrial  and  social  democracy. 

"In  the  course  of  the  speech  that  resulted  in  this  in- 
dictment, I  am  charged  with  having  expressed  sympathy 
for  Kate  Richards  O'Hare,*  for  Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  for 
Ruthenberg,t  Wagenknechtf  and  Baker.f  I  did  ex- 
press my  perfect  sympathy  with  these  comrades  of  mine. 
I  have  known  them  for  many  years.  I  have  every  rea- 
son to  believe  in  their  integrity,  every  reason  to  look 
upon  them  with  respect,  with  confidence  and  with  ap- 
proval. 

"Kate  Richards  O'Hare  never  uttered  the  words  im- 
puted to  her  in  the  report.  The  words  are  perfectly 
brutal.  She  is  not  capable  of  using  such  language.  I 
know  that  through  all  of  the  years  of  her  life  she  has 
been  working  in  the  interests  of  the  suffering,  struggling 
poor,  that  she  has  consecrated  all  of  her  energies,  all 
of  her    abilities,  to  their  betterment.    The  same  is  true 

*  Mrs.  Kate  Richards  O  'Hare,  Socialist  worker  of  St.  Louis,  Mo,, 
convicted  and  serving  a  sentence  of  five  years  at  Jefferson  City, 
Mo.,  prison  for  making  a  speech  alleged  to  be  in  violation  of  the 
Espionage  Law. 

t  C.  E.  Euthenberg,  Alfred  Wagenknecht  and  Charles  Baker,, 
Cleveland  Socialists,  sentenced  to  serve  one  year  each  at  the  Stark 
County  workhouse  for  infractions  of  the  military  laws  in  1917. 


26      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  Rose  Pastor  Stokes.  Through  all  her  4if e  she  has 
been  on  the  side  of  the  oppressed  and  downtrodden. 
If  she  were  so  inclined  she  might  occupy  a  place  of  ease. 
She  might  enjoy  all  of  the  comforts  and  leisures  of  life. 
Instead  of  this,  she  has  renounced  them  all.  She  has 
taken  her  place  among  the  poor,  and  there  she  has 
worked  with  all  of  her  ability,  all  of  her  energy,  to  make 
it  possible  for  them  to  enjoy  a  little  more  of  the  com- 
forts of  life. 

**I  said  that  if  these  women  whom  I  have  known  all 
of  these  years — that  if  they  were  criminals,  if  they 
ought  to  go  to  the  penitentiary,  then  I,  too,  am  a  crim- 
inal, and  I  ought  to  be  sent  to  prison.  I  have  not  a 
word  to  retract — not  one.  I  uttered  the  truth.  I  made 
no  statement  in  that  speech  that  I  am  not  prepared  to 
prove.  If  there  is  a  single  falsehood  in  it,  it  has  not 
been  exposed.  If  there  is  a  single  statement  in  it  that 
will  not  bear  the  light  of  truth,  I  will  retract  it,  I 
will  make  all  of  the  reparation  in  my  power.  But  if 
what  I  said  is  true,  and  I  believe  it  is,  then  whatever 
fate  or  fortune  may  have  in  store  for  me  I  shall  pre- 
serve inviolate  the  integrity  of  my  soul  and  stand  by 
it  to  the  end. 

**When  I  said  what  I  did  about  the  three  comrades 
of  mine  who  are  in  the  workhouse  at  Canton,  I  had  in 
mind  what  they  had  been  ever  since  I  have  known  them 
in  the  service  of  the  working  class.  I  had  in  mind  the 
fact  that  these  three  working  men  had  just  a  little  while 
before  had  their  hands  cuffed  and  were  strung  up  in  that 
prison  house  for  eight  hours  at  a  time  until  they  fell 
to  the  floor  fainting  from  exhaustion.  And  this  because 
they  had  refused  to  do  some  menial,  filthy  services  that 
were  an  insult  to  their  dignity  and  their  manhood. 

*'I  have  been  accused  of  expressing  sympathy  for  the 
Bolsheviki  of  Russia.  I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  I 
have  read  a  great  deal  about  the  Bolsheviki  of  Russia 
that  is  not  true.    I  happen  to  know  of  my  own  knowl- 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  27 

edge  that  they  have  been  grossly  misrepresented  by  the 
press  of  this  country.  Who  are  these  much-maligned 
revolutionists  of  Russia?  For  years  they  had  been  the 
victims  of  a  brutal  Czar.  They  and  their  antecedents 
were  sent  to  Siberia,  lashed  with  a  knout,  if  they  even 
dreamed  of  freedom.  At  last  the  hour  struck  for  a 
great  change.  The  revolution  came.  The  Czar  was 
overthrown  and  his  infamous  regime  ended.  What  fol- 
lowed? The  common  people  of  Russia  came  into  power 
— the  peasants,  the  toilers,  the  soldiers — and  they  pro- 
ceeded as  best  they  could  to  establish  a  government  of 
the  people." 

District  Attorney  Wertz  :  ' '  If  the  Court  please,  I 
would  like  to  ask  the  Court  to  instruct  the  defendant 
that  his  arguments  are  to  be  confined  to  the  evidence 
in  the  case.  There  isn't  any  evidence  in  this  case  about 
the  Bolsheviki  at  all  or  the  Russian  revolution.'' 

The  Court:  *'I  think  I  will  permit  the  defendant 
to  proceed  in  his  own  way.  Of  course,  you  are  not  a 
lawyer,  Mr.  Debs.  The  usual  rule  is  that  the  remarks 
of  counsel  should  be  confined  to  the  testimony  in  the 
case,  but  it  does  not  forbid  counsel  from  making  refer- 
ences to  facts  or  matters  of  general  public  history  or 
notoriety  by  way  of  illustrating  your  arguments  and 
comments  upon  the  testimony  in  the  case.  So  I  will 
permit  you  to  proceed  in  your  own  way." 

Debs  :  * '  Thank  you.  It  may  be  that  the  much-despised 
Bolsheviki  may  fail  at  last,  but  let  me  say  to  you  that 
they  have  written  a  chapter  of  glorious  history.  It 
will  stand  to  their  eternal  credit.  The  leaders  are  now 
denounced  as  criminals  and  outlaws.  Let  me  remind 
you  that  there  was  a  time  when  George  Washington, 
who  is  now  revered  as  the  father  of  his  country,  was 
denounced  as  a  disloyalist;  when  Sam  Adams,  who  is 
known  to  us  as  the  father  of  the  American  Revolution, 
was  condemned  as  an  incendiary,  and  Patrick  Henry, 
who  delivered  that  inspired  and  inspiring  oration,  that 


28      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

aroused  the  Colonists,  was  condemned  as  a  traitor.  They 
were  misunderstood  at  the  time.  They  stood  true  to 
themselves,  and  they  won  an  immortality  of  gratitude 
and  glory. 

*'When  great  changes  occur  in  history,  when  great 
principles  are  involved,  as  a  rule  the  majority  are  wrong. 
The  minority  are  right.  In  every  age  there  have  been 
a  few  heroic  souls  who  have  been  in  advance  of  their 
time  who  have  been  misunderstood,  maligned,  perse- 
cuted, sometimes  put  to  death.  Long  after  their  mar- 
tyrdom monuments  were  erected  to  them  and  garlands 
were  woven  for  their  graves. 

**I  have  been  accused  of  having  obstructed  the  war. 
I  admit  it.  Gentlemen,  I  abhor  war.  I  would  oppose 
the  war  if  I  stood  alone.  When  I  think  of  a  cold, 
glittering  steel  bayonet  being  plunged  in  the  white, 
quivering  flesh  of  a  human  being,  I  recoil  with  horror. 
I  have  often  wondered  if  I  could  take  the  life  of  my 
fellow  man,  even  to  save  my  own. 

''Men  talk  about  holy  wars.  There  are  none.  Let  me 
remind  you  that  it  was  Benjamin  Franklin  who  said, 
'There  never  was  a  good  war  or  a  bad  peace.' 

"Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  a  high  authority  upon  the 
subject  of  war.  And  when  in  his  last  days  he  was 
chained  to  the  rock  at  St.  Helena,  when  he  felt  the  skele- 
ton hand  of  death  reaching  for  him,  he  cried  out  in 
horror,  'War  is  the  trade  of  savages  and  barbarians.' 

"I  have  read  some  history.  I  know  that  it  is  ruling 
cleisses  that  make  war  upon  one  another,  and  not  the 
people.  In  all  of  the  history  of  this  world  the  people 
have  never  yet  declared  a  war.  Not  one.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  really  civilized  nations  would  murder  one 
another.  I  would  refuse  to  kill  a  human  being  on  my 
own  account.  Why  should  I  at  the  command  of  any 
one  else,  or  at  the  command  of  any  power  on  earth? 

"Twenty  centuries  ago  there  was  one  appeared  upon 
earth  we  know  as  the  Prince  of  Peace.     He  issued  a 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         29 

eommand  in  which  I  believe.  He  said,  *Love  one  an- 
other. '  He  did  not  say,  *  Kill  one  another, '  but  *  love  one 
another.'  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the  suffering  poor 
— just  as  Rose  Pastor  Stokes  did,  just  as  Kate  Richards 
0  'Hare  did — and  the  poor  heard  him  gladly.  It  was  not 
long  before  he  aroused  the  ill  will  and  hatred  of  the 
usurers,  the  money  changers,  the  profiteers,  the  high 
priests,  the  lawyers,  the  judges,  the  merchants,  the 
bankers — in  a  word,  the  ruling  class.  They  said  of  him 
just  what  the  ruling  class  says  of  the  Socialist  to-day, 
*He  is  preaching  dangerous  doctrine.  He  is  inciting 
the  common  rabble.  He  is  a  menace  to  peace  and  order.  * 
And  they  had  him  arraigned,  tried,  convicted,  con- 
demned, and  they  had  his  quivering  body  spiked  to  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem. 

''This  has  been  the  tragic  history  of  the  race.  In  the 
ancient  world  Socrates  sought  to  teach  some  new  truths 
to  the  people,  and  they  made  him  drink  the  fatal  hem- 
lock. It  has  been  true  all  along  the  track  of  the  ages. 
The  men  and  women  who  have  been  in  advance,  who 
have  had  new  ideas,  new  ideals,  who  have  had  the  cour- 
age to  attack  the  established  order  of  things,  have  all 
had  to  pay  the  same  penalty. 

*'A  century  and  a  half  ago,  when  the  American  col- 
onists were  still  foreign  subjects,  and  when  there  were 
a  few  men  who  had  faith  in  the  common  people  emd 
believed  that  they  could  rule  themselves  without  a  king, 
in  that  day  to  speak  against  the  king  was  treason.  If 
you  read  Bancroft  or  any  other  standard  historian,  you 
will  find  that  a  great  majority  of  the  colonists  believed 
in  the  king  and  actually  believed  that  he  had  a  divine 
right  to  rule  over  them.  They  had  been  taught  to 
believe  that  to  say  a  word  against  the  king,  to  question 
his  so-called  divine  right,  was  sinful.  There  were  min- 
isters who  opened  their  Bibles  to  prove  that  it  was  the 
patriotic  duty  of  the  people  to  loyally  serve  and  sup- 
port the  king.    But  there  were  a  few  men  in  that  day 


30     DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

who  said,  'We  don't  need  a  king.  We  can  govern  our- 
selves.' And  they  began  an  agitation  that  has  been 
immortalized  in  history. 

**  Washington,  Adams,  Paine — these  were  the  rebels 
of  their  day.  At  first  they  were  opposed  by  the  people 
and  denounced  by  the  press.  You  can  remember  that 
it  was  Franklin  who  said  to  his  compeers,  '  We  have  now 
to  hang  together  or  we'll  hang  separately  by  and  by.' 
And  if  the  Revolution  had  failed,  the  revolutionary 
fathers  would  have  been  executed  as  felons.  But  it  did 
not  fail.  Revolutions  have  a  habit  of  succeeding  when 
the  time  comes  for  them.  The  revolutionary  forefathers 
were  opposed  to  the  form  of  government  in  their  day. 
They  were  opposed  to  the  social  system  of  their  time. 
They  were  denounced,  they  were  condemned.  But  they 
had  the  moral  courage  to  stand  erect  and  defy  all  the 
storms  of  detraction;  and  that  is  why  they  are  in  his- 
tory, and  that  is  why  the  great  respectable  majority  of 
their  day  sleep  in  forgotten  graves.  The  world  does  not 
know  they  ever  lived. 

*'At  a  later  time  there  began  another  mighty  agita- 
tion in  this  country.  It  was  against  an  institution  that 
was  deemed  a  very  respectable  one  in  its  time,  the  in- 
stitution of  chattel  slavery,  that  became  all-powerful, 
that  controlled  the  President,  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress, the  Supreme  Court,  the  press,  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent the  pulpit.  All  of  the  organized  forces  of  society, 
all  the  powers  of  government,  upheld  chattle  slavery  in 
that  day.  And  again  there  were  a  few  lovers  of  liberty 
who  appeared.  One  of  them  was  Elijah  Lovejoy.  Elijah 
Love  joy  was  as  much  despised  in  his  day  as  are  the 
leaders  of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  our  day.  Elijah  Lovejoy 
was  murdered  in  cold  blood  in  Alton,  Illinois,  in  1837 
simply  because  he  was  opposed  to  chattel  slavery — ^just 
as  I  am  opposed  to  wage  slavery.  When  you  go  down 
the  Mississippi  River  and  look  up  at  Alton,  you  see  a 
magnificent  white  shaft  erected  there  in  memory  of  a 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         31 

man  who  was  true  to  himself  and  his  convictions  o£  right 
and  duty  unto  death. 

' '  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  personally  know  "Wendell 
Phillips.  I  heard  the  story  of  his  persecution  in  part, 
at  least,  from  his  own  eloquent  lips  just  a  little  while 
before  they  were  silenced  in  death. 

'*  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Garret  Smith,  Thaddeus 
Stevens — ^these  leaders  of  the  abolition  movement,  who 
were  regarded  as  monsters  of  depravity,  were  true  to 
the  faith  and  stood  their  ground.  They  are  all  in  his- 
tory. You  are  teaching  your  children  to  revere  their 
memories,  while  all  of  their  detractors  are  in  oblivion. 

''Chattel  slavery  disappeared.  We  are  not  yet  free. 
We  are  engaged  in  another  mighty  agitation  to-day.  It 
is  as  wide  as  the  world.  It  is  the  rise  of  the  toiling  and 
producing  masses  who  are  gradually  becoming  conscious 
of  their  interest,  their  power,  as  a  class,  who  are  organ- 
izing industrially  and  politically,  who  are  slowly  but 
surely  developing  the  economic  and  political  power  that 
is  to  set  them  free.  They  are  still  in  the  minority,  but 
they  have  learned  how  to  wait,  and  to  bide  their  time. 

''It  is  because  I  happen  to  be  in  this  minority  that 
I  stand  in  your  presence  to-day,  charged  with  crime. 
It  is  because  I  believe,  as  the  revolutionary  fathers  be- 
lieved in  their  day,  that  a  change  was  due  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people,  that  the  time  had  come  for  a  better 
form  of  government,  an  improved  system,  a  higher  so- 
cial order,  a  nobler  humanity  and  a  grander  civilization. 
This  minority  that  is  so  much  misunderstood  and  so  bit- 
terly maligned  is  in  alliance  with  the  forces  of  evolu- 
tion, and  as  certain  as  I  stand  before  you  this  after- 
noon, it  is  but  a  question  of  time  until  this  minority 
will  become  the  conquering  majority  and  inaugurate  the 
greatest  change  in  all  of  the  history  of  the  world.  You 
may  hasten  the  change;  you  may  retard  it;  you  can 
no  more  prevent  it  than  you  can  prevent  the  coming  of 
the  sunrise  on  the  morrow. 


32      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

*'My  friend,  the  assistant  prosecutor,  doesn't  like 
what  I  had  to  say  in  my  speech  about  internationalism. 
"What  is  there  objectionable  to  internationalism?  If 
we  had  internationalism  there  would  be  no  war.  I  be- 
lieve in  patriotism.  I  have  never  uttered  a  word  against 
the  flag.  I  love  the  flag  as  a  symbol  of  freedom.  I  ob- 
ject only  when  that  flag  is  prostituted  to  base  purposes, 
to  sordid  ends,  by  those  who,  in  the  name  of  patriotism, 
would  keep  the  people  in  subjection. 

**I  believe,  however,  in  a  wider  patriotism.  Thomas 
Paine  said,  *My  country  is  the  world.  To  do  good  is 
my  religion.'  Garrison  said,  'My  country  is  the  world 
and  all  mankind  are  my  countrjrmen. '  That  is  the  es- 
sence of  internationalism.  I  believe  in  it  with  all  of  my 
heart.  I  believe  that  nations  have  been  pitted  against  na- 
tions long  enough  in  hatred,  in  strife,  in  warfare.  I  be- 
lieve there  ought  to  be  a  bond  of  unity  between  all  of 
these  nations.  I  believe  that  the  human  race  consists  of 
one  great  family.  I  love  the  people  of  this  country,  but  I 
don 't  hate  the  people  of  any  country  on  earth — not  even 
the  Germans.  I  refuse  to  hate  a  human  being  because  he 
happens  to  be  bom  in  some  other  country.  Why  should 
I  ?  To  me  it  does  not  make  any  difference  where  he  was 
born  or  what  the  color  of  his  skin  may  be.  Like  myself, 
he  is  the  image  of  his  creator.  He  is  a  human  being 
endowed  with  the  same  faculties,  he  has  the  same  aspira- 
tions, he  is  entitled  to  the  same  rights,  and  I  would  in- 
finitely rather  serve  him  and  love  him  than  to  hate  him 
and  kill  him. 

**We  hear  a  great  deal  about  human  brotherhood — 
a  beautiful  and  inspiring  theme.  It  is  preached  from 
a  countless  number  of  pulpits.  It  is  vain  for  us  to 
preach  of  human  brotherhood  while  we  tolerate  this 
social  system  in  which  we  are  a  mass  of  warring  units, 
in  which  millions  of  workers  have  to  fight  one  another 
for  jobs,  and  millions  of  business  men  and  professional 
men  have  to  fight  one  another  for  trade,  for  practice — • 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  33 

in  which  we  have  individual  interests  and  each  is  striv- 
ing to  care  for  himself  alone  without  reference  to  his 
fellow  men.  Human  hrotherhood  is  yet  to  he  realized 
in  this  world.  It  can  never  he  under  the  capitalist- 
competitive  system  in  which  we  live. 

''Yes,  I  was  opposed  to  the  war.  I  am  perfectly  will- 
ing, on  that  count,  to  he  hranded  as  a  disloyalist,  and 
if  it  is  a  crime  under  the  American  law,  punishable  by 
imprisonment,  for  being  opposed  to  human  bloodshed, 
I  am  perfectly  willing  to  be  clothed  in  the  stripes  of  a 
convict  and  to  end  my  days  in  a  prison  cell. 

**If  my  friends,  the  attorneys,  had  known  me  a  little 
better  they  might  have  saved  themselves  some  trouble 
in  procuring  evidence  to  prove  certain  things  against 
me  which  I  have  not  the  slightest  inclination  to  deny, 
but  rather,  upon  the  other  hand,  I  have  a  very  consid- 
erable pride  in. 

*'You  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  St.  Louis 
platform.  I  wasn't  at  the  convention  when  that  plat- 
form was  adopted,  but  I  don't  ask  to  be  excused  from 
my  responsibility  on  that  account.  I  voted  for  its  adop- 
tion. I  believe  in  its  essential  principles.  There  was 
some  of  its  phrasing  that  I  would  have  otherwise.  I 
afterwards  advocated  a  restatement.  The  testimony  to 
the  effect  that  I  had  refused  to  repudiate  it  was  true. 

*'At  the  time  that  platform  was  adopted  the  nation 
had  just  entered  upon  the  war  and  there  were  millions 
of  people  who  were  not  Socialists  who  were  opposed  to 
the  United  States  being  precipitated  into  that  war. 
Time  passed;  conditions  changed.  There  were  certain 
new  developments  and  I  believed  there  should  be  a 
restatement.  I  have  been  asked  why  I  did  not  favor  a 
repudiation  of  what  was  said  a  year  before.  For  the  rea- 
son that  I  believed  then,  as  I  believe  now,  that  the  state- 
ment correctly  defined  the  attitude  of  the  Socialist  Party 
toward  war.  That  statement,  bear  in  mind,  did  not 
apply  to  the  people  of  this  country  alone,  but  to  the 


34      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

people  of  the  world.  It  said,  in  effect,  to  the  people, 
especially  to  the  workers,  of  all  countries,  'Quit  going 
to  war.  Stop  murdering  one  another  for  the  profit  and 
glory  of  the  ruling  classes.  Cultivate  the  arts  of  peace. 
Humanize  humanity.  Civilize  civilization.'  That  is 
the  essential  spirit  and  the  appeal  of  the  much-hated, 
condemned  St.  Louis  platform. 

*'Now,  the  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  hold 
their  conventions  from  time  to  time.  They  revise  their 
platforms  and  their  declarations.  They  do  not  repudi- 
ate previous  platforms.  Nor  is  it  necessary.  With  the 
change  of  conditions  these  platforms  are  outgrown  and 
others  take  their  places.  I  was  not  in  the  convention, 
but  I  believed  in  that  platform.  I  do  to-day.  But 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  this  day,  I  have  never, 
by  word  or  act,  been  guilty  of  the  charges  that  are  em- 
braced in  this  indictment.  If  I  have  criticized,  if  I 
ever  condemned,  it  is  because  I  have  believed  myself 
justified  in  doing  so  under  the  laws  of  the  land.  I 
have  had  precedents  for  my  attitude.  This  country  has 
been  engaged  in  a  number  of  wars,  and  every  one  of 
them  has  been  opposed,  every  one  of  them  has  been 
condemned  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the 
country.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  was  opposed.  The 
Tory  press  denounced  its  leaders  as  criminals  and  out- 
laws. And  that  was  when  they  were  under  the  'divine 
right'  of  a  king  to  rule  men. 

"The  War  of  1812  was  opposed  and  condemned;  the 
Mexican  war  was  bitterly  condemned  by  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, by  Charles  Sumner,  by  Daniel  Webster  and  by 
Henry  Clay.  That  war  took  place  under  the  Polk  ad- 
ministration. These  men  denaunced  the  President ;  they 
condemned  his  administration;  and  they  said  that  the 
war  was  a  crime  against  humanity.  They  were  not  in- 
dicted; they  were  not  tried  for  crime.  They  are  hon- 
ored to-day  by  all  of  their  countrymen.  The  War  of 
the  Rebellion  was  opposed  and  condemned.     In  1864: 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         35 

the  Democratic  Party  met  in  convention  at  Chicago  and 
passed  a  resolution  condemning  the  war  as  a  failure. 
What  would  you  say  if  the  Socialist  Party  were  to  meet 
in  convention  to-day  and  condemn  the  present  war  as  a 
failure?  You  charge  us  with  being  disloyalists  and 
traitors.  Were  the  Democrats  of  1864  disloyalists  and 
traitors  because  they  condemned  the  war  as  a  failure? 

''I  believe  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Isn't  it  strange  that  we  Socialists  stand  almost  alone 
to-day  in  defending  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States?  The  revolutionary  fathers  who  had  been  op- 
pressed under  king  rule  understood  that  free  speech 
and  free  press  and  the  right  of  free  assemblage  by  the 
people  were  the  fundamental  principles  of  democratic 
government.  The  very  first  amendment  to  the  Consti- 
tution reads:  *  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting 
an  establishment  of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  ex- 
ercise thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or 
of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to 
assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for  a  redress 
of  grievances.*  That  is  perfectly  plain  English.  It 
can  be  understood  by  a  child.  I  believe  that  the  revolu- 
tionary fathers  meant  just  what  is  here  stated — that 
Congress  shall  make  no  law  abridging  the  freedom  of 
speech  or  of  the  press,  or  of  the  right  of  the  people  to 
peaceably  assemble,  and  to  petition  the  government  for 
a  redress  of  grievances. 

*'That  is  the  right  that  I  exercised  at  Canton  on  the 
16th  day  of  last  June ;  and  for  the  exercise  of  that  right 
I  now  have  to  answer  to  this  indictment.  I  believe  in 
the  right  of  free  speech  in  war  as  well  as  in  peace.  I 
would  not,  under  any  circumstances,  gag  the  lips  of  my 
biggest  enemy.  I  would  under  no  circumstances  sup- 
press free  speech.  It  is  far  more  dangerous  to  attempt 
to  gag  the  people  than  to  allow  them  to  speak  freely 
of  what  is  in  their  hearts.  I  do  not  go  as  far  as  Wen- 
dell Phillips  did.    Wendell  Phillips  said  that  the  glory 


36      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  free  men  is  that  they  trample  unjust  laws  under  their 
feet.  That  is  how  they  repealed  them.  If  a  human 
being  submits  to  having  his  lips  sealed,  to  be  in  silence 
reduced  to  vassalage,  he  may  have  all  else,  but  he  is 
still  lacking  in  all  that  dignifies  and  glorifies  real  man- 
hood. 

''Now,  notwithstanding  this  fundamental  provision  in 
the  national  law.  Socialists'  meetings  have  been  broken 
up  all  over  this  country.  Socialist  speakers  have  been 
arrested  by  hundreds  and  flung  into  jail,  where  many 
of  them  are  lying  now.  In  some  cases  not  even  a  charge 
was  lodged  against  them,  guilty  of  absolutely  no  crime 
except  the  crime  of  attempting  to  exercise  the  right 
guaranteed  to  them  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

*'I  have  told  you  that  I  am  no  lawyer,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  I  know  enough  to  know  that  if  Congress 
enacts  any  law  that  conflicts  with  this  provision  in  the 
Constitution,  that  law  is  void.  If  the  Espionage  Law 
finally  stands,  then  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
is  dead.  If  that  law  is  not  the  negation  of  every  funda- 
mental principle  established  by  the  Constitution,  then 
certainly  I  am  unable  to  read  or  to  understand  the  Eng- 
lish language. 

To  THE  Court  :  "Your  Honor,  I  don't  know  whether 
I  would  be  in  order  to  quote  from  a  book  I  hold  in  my 
hand,  called  'The  New  Freedom,'  by  Woodrow  Wilson, 
President  of  the  United  States." 

The  Court:    "I  will  grant  you  that  permission." 

Debs:  "I  want  to  show  the  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
if  I  can,  that  every  statement  I  made  in  my  Canton 
speech  is  borne  out  in  this  book  by  Woodrow  Wilson, 
called  'The  New  Freedom.'  It  consists  of  his  cam- 
paign speeches  while  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
Of  course,  he  uses  different  language  than  I  did,  for 
he  is  a  college  professor.  He  is  an  educated  gentleman, 
I  never  had  a  chance  to  get  an  education.    I  had  to  go 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         37 

to  work  in  my  childhood.  I  want  to  show  you  that 
the  statement  made  by  Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  for  which 
she  has  been  convicted,  and  the  approval  of  which  has 
brought  condemnation  upon  me,  is  substantially  the 
same  statement  made  by  Mr.  Wilson  when  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States : 

*'  'To'day,  when  our  government  has  so  far  passed 
into  the  hands  of  special  interests;  to-day,  when  the 
doctrine  is  implicitly  avowed  that  only  select  classes 
have  the  equipment  necessary  for  carrying  on  govern- 
ment ;  to-day,  when  so  many  conscientious  citizens,  smit- 
ten with  the  scene  of  social  wrong  and  suffering,  have 
fallen  victims  to  the  fallacy  that  benevolent  government 
can  be  meted  out  to  the  people  by  kind-hearted  trustees 
of  prosperity  and  guardians  of  the  welfare  of  dutiful 
employees — to-day,  supremely  does  it  behoove  this  na- 
tion to  remember  that  a  people  shall  be  saved  by  the 
power  that  sleeps  in  its  own  deep  bosom,  or  by  none; 
shall  be  renewed  in  hope,  in  conscience,  in  strength,  by 
waters  welling  up  from  its  own  sweet,  perennial  springs. ' 

*'So  this  government  has  passed  into  the  hands  of 
special  interests.  Rose  Pastor  Stokes^  language  is  some- 
what different.  Instead  of  'special  interests'  she  said 
*  profiteers.'  She  said  that  a  government  that  was  for 
the  profiteers  could  not  be  for  the  people,  and  that  as 
long  as  the  government  was  for  the  profiteers,  she  was 
for  the  people.  That  is  the  statement  that  I  indorsed, 
approved  and  believed  in  with  all  my  heart.  The  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  tells  us  that  our  government 
has  passed  into  the  control  of  special  interests.  When 
we  Socialists  make  the  same  contention,  we  are  branded 
as  disloyalists,  and  we  are  indicted  as  criminals.  But 
that  is  not  all,  nor  nearly  all: 

"  'There  are,  of  course,  Americans  who  have  not  yet 
heard  that  anything  is  going  on.  The  circus  might 
come  to  town,  have  the  big  parade  and  go,  without  their 
catching  a  sight  of  the  camels  or  a  note  of  the  calliope. 


38      DEBS— AUTHOKIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTEES 

There  are  people,  even  Americans,  who  never  move 
themselves  or  know  that  anything  else  is  moving. ' 

*'Just  one  other  quotation:  *For  a  long  time  this 
country  of  ours  has  lacked  one  of  the  institutions  which 
free  men  have  always  and  everywhere  held  fundamental. 
For  a  long  time  there  has  been  no  sufficient  opportunity 
of  counsel  among  the  people;  no  place  and  method  of 
talk,  of  exchange  of  opinion,  of  parley.  Communities 
have  outgrown  the  folk-moot  and  the  town  meeting. 
Congress,  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  the  land, 
which  asks  for  action  and  is  impatient  of  words — Con- 
gress has  become  an  institution  which  does  its  work  in 
the  privacy  of  committee  rooms  and  not  on  the  floor  of 
the  Chamber;  a  body  that  mgikes  laws,  a  legislature; 
not  a  body  that  debates,  not  a  parliament.  Party  con- 
ventions afford  little  or  no  opportunity  for  discussion; 
platforms  are  privately  manufactured  and  adopted  with 
a  whoop.  It  is  partly  because  citizens  have  foregone 
the  taking  of  counsel  together  that  the  unholy  alliances 
of  bosses  and  Big  Business  have  been  able  to  assume  to 
govern  for  us. 

'*  *I  conceive  it  to  be  one  of  the  needs  of  the  hour 
to  restore  the  processes  of  common  counsel,  and  to  sub- 
stitute them  for  the  processes  of  private  arrangement 
which  now  determine  the  policies  of  cities,  states  and 
nation.  We  must  learn,  we  freemen,  to  meet,  as  our 
fathers  did,  somehow,  somewhere,  for  consultation. 
There  must  bo  discussion  and  debate,  in  which  all  freely 
participate.'  '^ 

*'Well,  there  has  been  something  said  in  connection 
with  this  about  profiteering — in  connection  with  this 
indictment. 

To  THE  Court:  ** Would  it  be  in  order  for  me  to 
read  a  brief  statement,  showing  to  what  extent  profiteer- 
ing has  been  carried  on  during  the  last  three  years  T' 

The  Court:  "No.  There  would  be  no  concensus  of 
opinion  or  agreement  upon  that  statement.    It  is  a  mat- 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  39 

ter  that  is  not  really  in  the  case,  and  when  you  go  to  com- 
pile a  statement,  you  are  then  undertaking  to  assume 
something  without  producing  evidence  to  substantiate  it. ' ' 

Debs:  *'Now,  in  the  course  of  this  proceeding  you, 
gentlemen,  have  perhaps  drawn  the  inference  that  I 
am  pro-German,  in  the  sense  that  I  have  any  sym- 
pathy with  the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany.  My 
father  and  mother  were  bom  in  Alsace.  They  loved 
France  with  a  passion  that  is  holy.  They  understood 
the  meaning  of  Prussianism,  and  they  hated  it  with 
all  their  hearts.  I  did  not  need  fo  be  taught  to  hate 
Prussian  militarism.  I  knew  from  them  what  a  hateful, 
what  an  oppressive,  what  a  brutalizing  thing  it  was  and 
is.  I  cannot  imagine  how  any  one  could  suspect  that 
for  one  moment  I  could  have  the  slightest  sympathy 
with  such  a  monstrous  thing.  I  have  been  speaking 
and  writing  against  it  practically  all  of  my  life.  I 
know  that  the  Kaiser  incarnates  all  there  is  of  brute 
force  and  of  murder.  And  yet  I  would  not,  if  I  had 
the  power,  kill  the  Kaiser.  I  would  do  to  him  what 
Thomas  Paine  wanted  to  do  to  the  king  of  England. 
He  said,  'Destroy  the  king,  but  save  the  man.' 

**The  thing  that  the  Kaiser  incarnates  and  embodies, 
called  militarism,  I  would,  if  I  could,  wipe  from  the 
face  of  the  earth, — not  only  the  militarism  of  Germany, 
but  the  militarism  of  the  whole  world.  I  am  quite 
well  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  war  now  deluging  the 
world  with  blood  was  precipitated  there.  Not  by  the 
German  people,  but  by  the  class  that  rules,  oppresses, 
robs  and  degrades  the  German  people.  President 
Wilson  has  repeatedly  said  that  we  were  not  making 
war  on  the  German  people,  and  yet  in  war  it  is  the 
people  who  are  slain,  and  not  the  rulers  who  are  respon- 
sible for  the  war. 

''With  every  drop  in  my  veins  I  despise  kaiserism, 
and  all  that  kaiserism  expresses  and  implies.  I  have 
sympathy  with  the  suffering,  struggling  people  every- 


40      DEBS— AUTHOEIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTEES 

where.  It  does  not  make  any  difference  under  what 
flag  they  were  bom,  or  where  they  live,  I  have  sympathy 
with  them  all.  I  would,  if  I  could,  establish  a  social 
system  that  would  embrace  them  all.  It  is  precisely  at 
this  point  that  we  come  to  realize  that  there  is  a  reason 
why  the  peoples  of  the  various  nations  are  pitted  against 
each  other  in  brutal  warfare  instead  of  being  united  in 
one  all-embracing  brotherhood. 

**War  does  not  come  by  chance.  War  is  not  the  re- 
sult of  accident.  There  is  a  definite  cause  for  war, 
especially  a  modem  war.  The  war  that  began  in  Eu- 
rope can  readily  be  accounted  for.  For  the  last  forty 
years,  under  this  international  capitalist  system,  this 
exploiting  system,  these  various  nations  of  Europe  have 
been  preparing  for  the  inevitable.  And  why?  In  all 
these  nations  the  great  industries  are  owned  by  a  rela- 
tively small  class.  They  are  operated  for  the  profit  of 
that  class.  And  great  abundance  is  produced  by  the 
workers;  but  their  wages  will  only  buy  back  a  small 
part  of  their  product.  What  is  the  result  ?  They  have 
a  vast  surplus  on  hand ;  they  have  got  to  export  it ;  they 
have  got  to  find  a  foreign  market  for  it.  As  a  result 
of  this  these  nations  are  pitted  against  each  other. 
They  are  industrial  rivals — competitors.  They  begin  to 
arm  themselves  to  open,  to  maintain  the  market  and 
quickly  dispose  of  their  surplus.  There  is  but  the  one 
market.  All  these  nations  are  competitors  for  it,  and 
sooner  or  later  every  war  of  trade  becomes  a  war  of 
blood. 

**Now,  where  there  is  exploitation  there  must  be 
some  form  of  militarism  to  support  it.  Wherever  you 
find  exploitation  you  find  some  form  of  military  force. 
In  a  smaller  way  you  find  it  in  this  country.  It 
was  there  long  before  war  was  declared.  For  in- 
stance, when  the  miners  out  in  Colorado  entered  upon 
a  strike  about  four  years  ago,  the  state  militia,  that  is 
under    the    control    of    the    Standard    Oil    Company, 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  41 

marclied  upon  a  camp,  where  the  miners  and  their  wives 
and  children  were  in  tents, — and,  by  the  way,  a  report 
of  this  strike  was  issued  by  the  United  States  Commis- 
sion on  Industrial  Relations.  When  the  soldiers  ap- 
proached the  camp  at  Ludlow,  where  these  miners,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  were,  the  miners,  to  prove 
that  they  were  patriotic,  placed  flags  above  their  tents, 
and  when  the  state  militia,  that  is  paid  by  Rockefeller 
and  controlled  by  Rockefeller,  swooped  down  upon  that 
camp,  the  first  thing  they  did  was  to  shoot  these  United 
States  flags  into  tatters.  Not  one  of  them  was  indicted 
or  tried  because  he  was  a  traitor  to  his  country.  Preg- 
nant women  were  killed,  and  a  number  of  innocent  chil- 
dren slain.  This  in  the  United  States  of  America, — 
the  fruit  of  exploitation.  The  miners  wanted  a  little 
more  of  what  they  had  been  producing.  But  the 
Standard  Oil  Company  wasn't  rich  enough.  It  insisted 
that  all  they  were  entitled  to  was  just  enough  to  keep 
them  in  working  order.  There  is  slaverj^  for  you.  And 
when  at  last  they  protested,  when  they  were  tormented 
by  hunger,  when  they  saw  their  children  in  tatters,  they 
were  shot  down  as  if  they  had  been  so  many  vagabond 
dogs. 

*'And  while  I  am  upon  this  point  let  me  say  just 
another  word.  Workingmen  who  organize,  and  who 
sometimes  commit  overt  acts,  are  very  often  times  con- 
demned by  those  who  have  no  conception  of  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  live.  How  many  men  are 
there,  for  instance,  who  know  anything  of  their  own 
knowledge  about  how  men  work  in  a  lumber  camp — a 
logging  camp,  a  turpentine  camp?  In  this  report  of 
the  United  States  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations 
you  will  find  the  statement  proved  that  peonage  existed 
in  the  state  of  Texas.  Out  of  these  conditions  springs 
such  a  thing  as  the  I.W.W. — ^When  men  receive  a  pit- 
tance for  their  pay,  when  they  work  like  galley  slaves 
for  a  wage  that  barely  suffices  to  keep  their  protesting 


42      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

souls  within  their  tattered  bodies.  When  they  can  en- 
dure the  conditions  no  longer,  and  they  make  some  sort 
of  a  demonstration,  or  perhaps  commit  acts  of  violence, 
how  quickly  are  they  condemned  by  those  who  do  not 
know  anything  about  the  conditions  under  which  they 
work ! 

*  *  Five  gentlemen  of  distinction,  among  them  Professor 
John  Graham  Brooks,  of  Harvard  University,  said  that 
a  word  that  so  fills  the  world  as  the  I.W.W.  must  have 
something  in  it.  It  must  be  investigated.  And  they 
did  investigate  it,  each  along  his  own  lines,  and  I  wish 
it  were  possible  for  every  man  and  woman  in  this  coun- 
try to  read  the  result  of  their  investigation.  They  tell 
you  why  and  how  the  I.W.W.  was  instituted.  They  tell 
you,  moreover,  that  the  great  corporations,  such  as  the 
Standard  Oil  Company,  such  as  the  Coal  Trust,  and  the 
Lumber  Trust,  have,  through  their  agents,  committed 
more  crimes  against  the  I.W.W.  than  the  I.W.W.  have 
ever  committed  against  them. 

*'I  was  asked  not  long  ago  if  I  was  in  favor  of  shoot- 
ing our  soldiers  in  the  back.  I  said,  *No,  I  would  not 
shoot  them  in  the  back.  I  wouldn't  shoot  them  at  all. 
I  would  not  have  them  shot.'  Much  has  been  made  of 
a  statement  that  I  declared  that  men  were  fit  for  some- 
thing better  than  slavery  and  cannon  fodder.  I  made 
the  statement.  I  make  no  attempt  to  deny  it.  I  meant 
exactly  what  I  said.  Men  are  fit  for  something  better 
than  slavery  and  cannon  fodder ;  and  the  time  will  come, 
though  I  shall  not  live  to  see  it,  when  slavery  will  be 
wiped  from  the  earth,  and  when  men  will  marvel  that 
there  ever  was  a  time  when  men  who  called  themselves 
civilized  rushed  upon  each  other  like  wild  beasts  and 
murdered  one  another,  by  methods  so  cruel  and  bar- 
barous that  they  defy  the  power  of  man  to  describe.  I 
can  hear  the  shrieks  of  the  soldiers  of  Europe  in  my 
dreams.  I  have  imagination  enough  to  see  a  battle- 
field.   I  can  see  it  strewn  with  the  legs  of  human  beings, 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  43 

who  but  yesterday  were  in  the  flush  and  glory  of  their 
young  manhood.  I  can  see  them  at  eventide,  scattered 
about  in  remnants,  their  limbs  torn  from  their  bodies, 
their  eyes  gouged  out.  Yes,  I  can  see  them,  and  I  can 
hear  them.  I  have  looked  above  and  beyond  this  fright- 
ful scene.  I  think  of  the  mothers  who  are  bowed  in 
the  shadow  of  their  last  great  grief — ^whose  hearts  are 
breaking.  And  I  say  to  myself,  *I  am  going  to  do  the 
little  that  lies  in  my  power  to  wipe  from  this  earth 
that  terrible  scourge  of  war.' 

**If  I  believed  in  war  I  could  not  be  kept  out  of  the 
first  line  trenches.  I  would  not  be  patriotic  at  long 
range.  I  would  be  honest  enough,  if  I  believed  in  blood- 
shed, to  shed  my  own.  But  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
shedding  of  blood  bears  any  actual  testimony  to  patri- 
otism, to  lead  a  country  to  civilization.  On  the  con- 
trary, I  believe  that  warfare,  in  all  of  its  forms,  is  an 
impeachment  of  our  social  order,  and  a  rebuke  to  our 
much  vaunted  Christian  civilization. 

**And  now.  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  I  am  not  going^ 
to  detain  you  too  long.  I  wish  to  admit  everything  that 
has  been  said  respecting  me  from  this  witness  chair. 
I  wish  to  admit  everything  that  has  been  charged  against 
me  except  what  is  embraced  in  the  indictment  which  I 
have  read  to  you.  I  cannot  take  back  a  word.  I  can't 
repudiate  a  sentence.  I  stand  before  you  guilty  of  hav- 
ing made  this  speech.  I  stand  before  you  prepared  to 
accept  the  consequences  of  what  there  is  embraced  in 
that  speech.  I  do  not  know,  I  cannot  tell,  what  your 
verdict  may  be;  nor  does  it  matter  much,  so  far  as  I 
am  concerned. 

**  Gentlemen,  I  am  the  smallest  part  of  this  trial.  I 
have  lived  long  enough  to  appreciate  my  own  personal 
insignificance  in  relation  to  a  great  issue  that  involves 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  people.  What  you  may  choose 
to  do  to  me  will  be  of  small  consequence  after  all.  I  am 
not  on  trial  here.     There  is  an  infinitely  greater  issue 


44      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  A^^D  LETTERS 

that  is  being  tried  in  this  court,  though  you  may  not 
be  conscious  of  it.  American  institutions  are  on  trial 
here  before  a  court  of  American  citizens.  The  future 
will  tell. 

**And  now,  Your  Honor,  permit  me  to  return  my 
hearty  thanks  for  your  patient  consideration.  And  to 
you,  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  for  the  kindness  with  which 
you  have  listened  to  me. 

**My  fate  is  in  your  hands.  I  am  prepared  for  the 
verdict.*' 

Debs  had  ^spoken  for  the  better  part  of  two  hours. 
If  there  had  resided  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  his 
friends  and  followers  in  the  courtroom  as  to  his  fate, 
after  hearing  his  speech  to  the  jury  it  vanished.  His 
jury  speech  had  been  a  restatement  of  his  Canton  ad- 
dress and  an  amplification  of  it.  If  his  Canton  speech 
warranted  an  indictment  for  crime  what  would  his 
speech* to  his  jury  bring  upon  him?  Debs  made  just 
the  kind  of  a  speech  to  the  jury  that  the  government 
counsel  wanted  him  to  make.  He  had  admitted  having 
obstructed  the  war.  He  would  oppose  it  if  he  stood 
alone.  He  had  approved  of  the  I.W.W.,  101  of  whose 
national  ofScers,  organizers,  editors  and  speakers,  in- 
cluding William  D.  Haywood,  general  secretary- 
treasurer,  had  been  convicted  and  sentenced  to  prison 
for  terms  ranging  from  one  to  twenty  years,  only  a 
few  weeks  before  his  own  trial  began.  The  I.W.W. 
had  been  convicted  of  conspiracy  to  obstruct  the  gov- 
ernment in  prosecuting  the  war.  Debs  had  not  availed 
himself  of  a  single  legal  loop  through  which  he  might 
escape  a  prison  sentence.  His  manner  of  speech  was 
not  defiant,  but  calm,  composed  and  candid.  He  said 
all  that  he  believed  to  be  true  on  a  number  of  public 
questions.  Even  in  that  courtroom,  on  that  late  sum- 
mer's afternoon,  in  a  moment  when  the  whole  nation 
was  aroused  by  war,  when  American  soldiers  were  at 
the  throat  of  a  fast-weakening  and  retreating  foe  across 


TEIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         45 

the  seas,  Debs  still  pleaded  with  twelve  average  Ameri- 
can citizens  to  give  a  thought  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  land  which  guaranteed  to  a  minority  citizenry  a  free 
and  public  expression  of  political  opinions.  It  was  an 
astonishing  request,  so  simple,  naive  and  child-like.  It 
was  like  asking  men  whose  homes  had  just  been  up- 
rooted by  a  hurricane  or  tidal  wave  to  remember  the 
soft  and  odorous  nights  of  June  whose  breezes  were  so 
gentle  as  not  to  stir  a  maple  leaf.  Debs  resumed  his 
seat  amid  the  silent  plaudits  of  his  followers.  For  he 
had  set  one  more  example  for  the  libertarians  of  the 
world  to  follow  if  they  would  be  true  to  their  convic- 
tions. An  agent  of  the  Department  of  Justice  who 
had  been  more  or  less  active  in  assisting  the  prosecution 
said  to  one  of  the  journalists  at  the  press  table:  **YouVe 
got  to  hand  it  to  the  old  man,  he  came  through  clean." 

District  Attorney  Wertz  spoke  for  the  remainder  of 
the  day  in  final  argument  for  the  government.  The 
prosecutor  roundly  denounced  Debs  and  the  Socialists, 
as  was  his  duty,  and  said  that  all  rights  of  free  speech 
were  adjourned.  He  stated  that  it  was  possible  that 
the  reason  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  arrested  and  con- 
victed for  criticizing  President  Polk  in  1846  for  waging 
war  against  Mexico  was  because  there  was  no  Espionage 
Law  at  that  time  to  apply.  The  prosecutor  even  said 
that  Debs  would  be  apt  to  carry  his  right  to  free  speech 
to  the  extent  of  yelling  *'fire"  in  a  crowded  theater  if 
it  pleased  him  to  do  so. 

At  the  conclusion  of  that  court  day  Debs  was  greeted 
outside  the  doors  by  a  throng  of  Socialists  and  ad- 
mirers who  had  been  unable  to  gain  admittance.  A 
young  girl  who  had  been  standing  in  the  crowd  out- 
side the  doors  all  day  long  pushed  her  way  by  sheer 
force  through  the  crowd  to  Debs's  side.  In  her  arms 
she  carried  a  huge  bouquet  of  red  roses  caught  at  the 
stems  with  a  wide  splash  of  red  satin  ribbon.  She 
thrust  the  flowers  into  'Gene's  arms,  and  then  swooned, 


46      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Debs  catching  her  and  holding  her  in  his  long,  lean 
arms.  He  carried  her  into  an  ante-room,  kissing  her 
brow  and  saying :  *  *  I  would  rather  have  lived  to  witness 
this  token  of  love  and  generosity  of  my  unknown  com- 
rade than  to  have  my  freedom.  These  are  the  incidents 
that  make  life  so  full  and  fine." 

That  night  he  remained  in  his  room  writing  letters 
and  smoking.  I  visited  him  for  a  few  moments  and 
expressed  my  admiration  for  the  address  he  had  made. 
''Well,''  he  said  quietly,  "this  time  to-morrow  we  shall 
know  how  much  American  citizens  care  for  liberty  and 
their  Constitution.''  He  said  that  for  him  everything 
was  all  right,  that  he  had  not  the  least  concern  over 
what  the  verdict  might  be.  *'  *I  have  made  my  bed 
and  am  prepared  to  lie  in  it.'  " 

The  following  day,  September  12th,  Judge  Westeu- 
haver  delivered  his  instructions  to  the  jury.  In  effect, 
the  court  told  the  jury  that  it  was  not  a  crime  for  a 
person  to  disapprove  of  the  war,  or  even  to  criticize 
the  Administration  and  the  conduct  of  the  war,  so  long 
as  such  criticism  and  disapproval  was  not  made  with 
criminal  intent.  The  jury  was  instructed  that  the  Es- 
pionage Law,  even  in  its  amended  form,  was  not  in- 
tended to  stifle  the  opinions  of  freemen  which  may  be 
at  variance  with  those  of  the  majority  of  the  people 
and  the  government,  and  that  if  the  jury  found  that 
Debs,  in  his  Canton  speech,  had  no  criminal  intent  to 
thwart  the  energies  of  the  government  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  war  with  Germany  it  was  clearly  their  duty  to 
return  a  verdict  of  ' '  not  guilty. ' '  It  was  not  necessary, 
ruled  the  court,  for  the  government  to  prove  that  the 
Canton  speech  had  actually  caused  insubordination,  in- 
cited mutiny  and  promoted  the  cause  of  Germany.  It 
was  sufficient  if  the  jury  believed  that  it  was  the  specific 
intention  of  Debs  to  do  these  things. 

The  jury  was  instructed  to  disregard  the  testimony 
of  witnesses  who  appeared  against  Debs,  the  court  stat- 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  47 

ing  that  such  evidence  was  admitted  only  by  way  of 
indicating  to  the  jury  **the  state  of  mind  of  the  de- 
fendant. ' '  With  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech 
the  court  dealt  at  length,  maintaining  that  the  right 
should  be  denied  and  must  be  denied  any  person  who 
willfully  sought  to  obstruct  the  government  in  time  of 
war,  or  tried  to  delay  the  production  of  materials  neces- 
sary for  its  prosecution,  or  who  interfered  with  the 
enlistment  and  recruiting  service.  The  talesmen  were 
told,  finally,  to  disregard  Debs's  statement  that  the  Es- 
pionage Law  was  invalid  because  it  abridged  the  Con- 
stitution, stating  that  that  point  was  for  the  courts  to 
determine. 

Shortly  before  eleven  o'clock  the  jury  retired  to  their 
rooxji  with  a  copy  of  the  indictment  and  Debs's  Canton 
speech.  The  indictment  had  been  stripped  to  three 
counts  from  its  original  ten,  conviction  on  each  count 
to  carry  a  maximum  sentence  of  twenty  years  imprison- 
ment and  a  fine  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  each  offense. 
While  the  jury  debated,  Debs  sat  at  the  counsel  table 
and  wrote  letters  and  told  stories  and  anecdotes  to 
interested  friends.  He  was  in  high  spirits.  Telegrams 
of  congratulations  from  all  parts  of  the  country  poured 
into  his  hands  from  followers  who  had  read  newspaper 
accounts  of  his  address  on  the  previous  day.  By  six 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  jury  reached  its  verdict  of 
*' Guilty  as  charged  in  the  indictment. ' '  The  court 
fixed  Saturday  morning,  September  14th,  as  the  time 
for  sentence.  Debs  spent  the  intervening  day  at  Akron, 
Ohio,  the  home  of  Mrs.  Marguerite  Prevy,  a  personal 
friend,  who  was  also  a  Socialist  worker,  and  one  of  two 
of  Debs's  bondsmen.  While  at  Akron,  Debs  was  visited 
by  his  lawyers,  all  of  whom  were  Socialists,  and  who 
prevailed  upon  him  to  take  advantage  of  the  oppor- 
tunity that  would  be  given  him  the  following  day  to 
address  the  court  before  sentence  should  be  imposed.  I 
am  told  that  Debs  was  at  first  disinclined  to  do  this, 


48      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

feeling  rather  weary  of  the  whole  proceeding,  but  on 
second  thought  he  was  convinced  that  he  should  make 
the  most  of  the  situation  by  speaking  for  the  future. 

The  proceeding  on  Saturday  morning,  September 
14th,  was  as  follows : 

District  Attorney  Wertz:  *'If  the  Court  please, 
I  move  for  the  imposition  of  sentence.'* 

Judge  Westenhaver:  (To  the  clerk)  **You  may 
inquire  if  the  defendant  has  anything  to  say.'' 

The  Clerk:  *' Eugene  Y.  Debs,  have  you  anything 
further  to  say  in  your  behalf  before  the  Court  passes 
sentence  upon  you?" 

Debs:  *'Your  Honor,  years  ago  I  recognized  my 
kinship  with  all  living  beings,  and  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  I  was  not  one  bit  better  than  the  meanest  of  earth. 
I  said  then,  I  say  now,  that  while  there  is  a  lower  class 
I  am  in  it ;  while  there  is  a  criminal  element,  I  am  of  it ; 
while  there  is  a  soul  in  prison,  I  am  not  free. 

'*If  the  law  under  which  I  have  been  convicted  is  a 
good  law,  then  there  is  no  reason  why  sentence  should 
not  be  pronounced  upon  me.  I  listened  to  all  that  was 
said  in  this  court  in  support  and  justification  of  this 
law,  but  my  mind  remains  unchanged.  I  look  upon 
it  as  a  despotic  enactment  in  flagrant  conflict  with 
democratic  principles  and  with  the  spirit  of  free  insti- 
tutions. 

**I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  this  court  or  with  the 
trial.  Everything  in  connection  with  this  case  has 
been  conducted  upon  a  dignified  plane,  and  in  a  respect- 
ful and  decent  spirit — with  just  one  exception.  Your 
Honor,  my  sainted  mother  inspired  me  with  a  reverence 
for  womanhood  that  amounts  to  worship.  I  can  think 
with  disrespect  of  no  woman,  and  I  can  think  with  re- 
spect of  no  man  who  can.  I  resent  the  manner  in  which 
the  names  of  two  noble  women  were  bandied  with  in 
this  court.  The  levity  and  the  wantonness  in  this  in- 
stance were  absolutely  inexcusable.     When  I  think  of 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  49 

what  was  said  in  this  connection,  I  feel  that  when  I  pass 
a  woman,  even  thong'h  it  be  a  sister  of  the  street,  I  should 
take  off  my  hat  and  apologize  to  her  for  being  a  man. 

''Your  Honor,  I  have  stated  in  this  court  that  I  am 
opposed  to  the  form  of  our  present  government;  that  I 
am  opposed  to  the  social  system  in  which  we  live ;  that 
I  believed  in  the  change  of  both — ^but  by  perfectly  peace- 
able and  orderly  means. 

*'Let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  this  morning 
that  in  this  system  five  per  cent  of  our  people  own  and 
control  two-thirds  of  our  wealth;  sixty-five  per  cent, 
of  the  people,  embracing  the  working  class  who  produce 
all  wealth,  have  but  five  per  cent  to  show  for  it. 

*' Standing  here  this  morning,  I  recall  my  boyhood. 
At  fourteen,  I  went  to  work  in  the  railroad  shops;  at 
sixteen,  I  was  firing  a  freight  engine  on  a  railroad.  I 
remember  all  the  hardships,  all  the  privations,  of  that 
earlier  day,  and  from  that  time  until  now,  my  heart 
has  been  with  the  working  class.  I  could  have  been  in 
Congress  long  ago.  I  have  preferred  to  go  to  prison. 
The  choice  has  been  deliberately  made.  I  could  not 
have  done  otherwise.    I  have  no  regret. 

**In  the  struggle — the  unceasing  struggle — between 
the  toilers  and  producers  and  their  exploiters,  I  have 
tried,  as  best  I  might,  to  serve  those  among  whom  I 
was  bom,  with  whom  I  expect  to  share  my  lot  until  the 
end  of  my  days. 

*'I  am  thinking  this  morning  of  the  men  in  the  mills 
and  factories;  I  am  thinking  of  the  women  who,  for  a 
paltry  wage,  are  compelled  to  work  out  their  lives;  of 
the  little  children  who,  in  this  system,  are  robbed  of 
their  childhood,  and  in  their  early,  tender  years,  are 
seized  in  the  remorseless  grasp  of  Mammon,  and  forced 
into  the  industrial  dungeons,  there  to  feed  the  machines 
while  they  themselves  are  being  starved  body  and  soul. 
I  can  see  them  dwarfed,  diseased,  stunted,  their  little 
lives  broken,  and  their  hopes  blasted,  because  in  this 


50      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

high  noon  of  our  twentieth  century  civilization  money 
is  still  so  much  more  important  than  human  life.  Gold 
is  god  and  rules  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

*'The  little  girls,  and  there  are  a  million  of  them 
in  this  country — this  the  most  favored  land  beneath  the 
bending  skies,  a  land  in  which  we  have  vast  areas  of 
rich  and  fertile  soil,  material  resources  in  inexhaustible 
abundance,  the  most  marvelous  productive  machinery  on 
earth,  millions  of  eager  workers  ready  to  apply  their 
labor  to  that  machinery  to  produce  an  abundance  for 
every  man,  woman  and  child — and  if  there  are  still 
many  millions  of  our  people  who  are  the  victims  of 
poverty,  whose  life  is  a  ceaseless  struggle  all  the  way 
from  youth  to  age,  until  at  last  death  comes  to  their 
rescue  and  stills  the  aching  heart,  and  lulls  the  victim 
to  dreamless  sleep,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Almighty, 
it  can't  be  charged  to  nature;  it  is  due  entirely  to  an 
outgrown  social  system  that  ought  to  be  abolished  not 
only  in  the  interest  of  the  working  class,  but  in  a 
higher  interest  of  all  humanity. 

**When  I  think  of  these  little  children — ^the  girls 
that  are  in  the  textile  mills  of  all  description  in  the 
East,  in  the  cotton  factories  of  the  South — ^when  I  think 
of  them  at  work  in  a  vitiated  atmosphere,  when  I  think 
of  them  at  work  when  they  ought  to  be  at  play  or  at 
school,  when  I  think  that  when  they  do  grow  up,  if 
they  live  long  enough  to  approach  the  marriage  state, 
they  are  unfit  for  it.  Their  nerves  are  worn  out,  their 
tissue  is  exhausted,  their  vitality  is  spent.  They  have 
been  fed  to  industry.  Their  lives  have  been  coined  into 
gold.  Their  offspring  are  born  tired.  That  is  Avhy 
there  are  so  many  failures  in  our  modern  life. 

**Your  Honor,  the  five  per  cent  of  the  people  that  I 
have  made  reference  to  constitute  that  element  that 
absolutely  rules  our  country.  They  privately  own  all 
our  public  necessities.  They  wear  no  crowns;  they 
wield  no  scepters;  they  sit  upon  no  thrones;  and  yet 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         51 

they  are  our  economic  masters  and  our  political  rulers. 
They  control  this  government  and  all  of  its  institutions. 
They  control  the  courts. 

''And,  Your  Honor,  if  you  will  permit  me,  I  wish  to 
make  just  one  correction.  It  was  stated  here  that  I  had 
charged  that  all  federal  judges  were  crooks.  The  charge 
is  absolutely  untrue.  I  did  say  that  all  federal  judges 
are  appointed  through  the  influence  and  power  of  the 
capitalist  class  and  not  the  working  class.  If  that 
statement  is  not  true,  I  am  more  than  willing  to  re- 
tract it. 

"The  five  per  cent  of  our  people  who  own  and 
control  all  the  sources  of  wealth,  all  of  the  nation's  in- 
dustries, all  of  the  means  of  our  common  life,  it  is  they 
who  declare  war ;  it  is  they  who  make  peace ;  it  is  they 
who  control  our  destiny.  And  so  long  as  this  is  true, 
we  can  make  no  just  claim  to  being  a  democratic  gov- 
ernment— a  seK-goveming  people. 

**I  believe,  Your  Honor,  in  common  with  all  Socialists, 
that  this  nation  ought  to  own  and  control  its  industries. 
I  believe,  as  all  Socialists  do,  that  all  things  that  are 
jointly  needed  and  used  ought  to  be  jointly  owned — 
that  industry,  the  basis  of  life,  instead  of  being  the  pri- 
vate property  of  the  few  and  operated  for  their  enrich- 
ment, ought  to  be  the  common  property  of  all,  demo- 
cratically administered  in  the  interest  of  all. 

*'John  D.  Rockefeller  has  to-day  an  income  of  sixty 
million  dollars  a  year,  five  million  dollars  a  month,  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  day.  He  does  not  produce 
a  penny  of  it.  I  make  no  attack  upon  Mr.  Rockefeller 
personally.  I  do  not  in  the  least  dislike  him.  If  he 
were  in  need  and  it  were  in  my  power  to  serve  him,  I 
should  serve  him  as  gladly  as  I  would  any  other  human 
being.  I  have  no  quarrel  with  Mr.  Rockefeller  person- 
ally, nor  with  any  other  capitalist.  I  am  sunply  oppos- 
ing a  social  order  in  which  it  is  possible  for  one  man 
who  does  absolutely  nothing  that  is  useful  to  amass  a 


52      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

fortune  of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  while  mil- 
lions of  men  and  women  who  work  all  of  the  days  of 
their  lives  secure  barely  enough  for  an  existence. 

' '  This  order  of  things  cannot  always  endure.  I  have 
registered  my  protest  against  it.  I  recognize  the  feeble- 
ness of  my  effort,  but,  fortunately,  I  am  not  alone. 
There  are  multiplied  thousands  of  others  who,  like  my- 
self, have  come  to  realize  that  before  we  may  truly 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  civilized  life,  we  must  reorganize 
society  upon  a  mutual  and  cooperative  basis ;  and  to  this 
end  we  have  organized  a  great  economic  and  political 
movement  that  is  spread  over  the  face  of  all  the  earth. 

* '  There  are  to-day  upwards  of  sixty  million  Socialists, 
loyal,  devoted,  adherents  to  this  cause,  regardless  of 
nationality,  race,  creed,  color  or  sex.  They  are  all  mak- 
ing common  cause.  They  are  all  spreading  the  propa- 
ganda of  the  new  social  order.  They  are  waiting, 
watching  and  working  through  all  the  weary  hours  of 
the  day  and  night.  They  are  still  in  the  minority. 
They  have  learned  how  to  be  patient  and  abide  their 
time.  They  feel — they  know,  indeed, — that  the  time  is 
coming,  in  spite  of  all  opposition,  all  persecution,  when 
this  emancipating  gospel  will  spread  among  all  the 
peoples,  and  when  this  minority  will  become  the  trium- 
phant majority,  and  sweeping  into  power,  inaugurate  the 
greatest  change  in  history. 

*'In  that  day  we  will  have  the  universal  common- 
wealth— not  the  destruction  of  the  nation,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  harmonious  cooperation  of  every  nation 
with  every  other  nation  on  earth.  In  that  day  war 
will  curse  this  earth  no  more. 

* '  I  have  been  accused,  Your  Honor,  of  being  an  enemy 
of  the  soldier.  I  hope  I  am  laying  no  flattering  unction 
to  my  soul  when  I  say  that  I  don't  believe  the  soldier 
has  a  more  sympathetic  friend  than  I  am.  If  I  had 
my  way  there  would  be  no  soldiers.  But  I  realize  the 
sacrifices  they  are  making.  Your  Honor.     I  can  think 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  53 

of  them.  I  can  feel  for  them.  I  can  sympathize  with 
them.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  I  have  been 
doing  what  little  has  been  in  my  power  to  bring  about 
a  condition  of  affairs  in  this  country  worthy  of  the 
sacrifices  they  have  made  and  that  they  are  npw  making 
in  its  behalf. 

*'Your  Honor,  in  a  local  paper  yesterday  there  was 
some  editorial  exultation  about  my  prospective  im- 
prisonment. I  do  not  resent  it  in  the  least.  I  can  under- 
stand it  perfectly.  In  the  same  paper  there  appears 
an  editorial  this  morning  that  has  in  it  a  hint  of  the 
wrong  to  which  I  have  been  trying  to  call  attention. ' ' 

Reading:  **  *A  senator  of  the  United  States  receives 
a  salary  of  $7500— $45,000  for  the  six  years  for  which 
he  is  elected.  One  of  the  candidates  for  senator  from 
a  state  adjoining  Ohio  is  reported  to  have  spent  through 
his  committee  $150,000  to  secure  the  nomination.  For 
advertising  he  spent  $35,000 ;  for  printing  $30,000 ;  for 
traveling  expenses  $10,000  and  the  rest  in  ways  known 
to  political  managers. 

"  'The  theory  is  that  public  office  is  as  open  to  a 
poor  man  as  to  a  rich  man.  One  may  easily  imagine, 
however,  how  slight  a  chance  one  of  ordinary  resources 
would  have  in  a  contest  against  this  man  who  was  will- 
ing to  spend  more  than  three  times  his  six  years'  salary 
merely  to  secure  a  nomination.  Were  these  conditions 
to  hold  in  every  state,  the  senate  would  soon  become 
again  what  it  was  once  held  to  be — a  rich  men's  club. 

''  'Campaign  expenditures  have  been  the  subject  of 
much  restrictive  legislation  in  recent  years,  but  it  has 
not  always  reached  the  mark.  The  authors  of  primary 
reform  have  accomplished  some  of  the  things  they  set 
out  to  do,  but  they  have  not  yet  taken  the  bank  roll 
out  of  politics.' 

"They  never  will  take  it  out  of  politics,  they  never 
can  take  it  out  of  politics  in  this  system. 

''Your  Honor,   I  wish  to  make  acknowledgment  of 


54      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

my  thjuiks  to  the  counsel  for  the  defense.  They  have 
not  only  defended  me  with  exceptional  legal  ability,  but 
with  a  personal  attachment  and  devotion  of  which  I 
am  deeply  sensible,  and  which  I  can  never  forget. 

*'Your  Honor,  I  ask  no  mercy,  I  plead  for  no  im- 
munity. I  realize  that  finally  the  right  must  prevail.  I 
never  more  clearly  comprehended  than  now  the  great 
struggle  between  the  powers  of  greed  on  the  one  hand 
and  upon  the  other  the  rising  hosts  of  freedom.  I  can 
see  the  dawn  of  a  better  day  of  humanity.  The  people 
are  awakening.  In  due  course  of  time  they  will  come 
into  their  own. 

**When  the  mariner,  sailing  over  tropic  seas,  looks 
for  relief  from  his  weary  watch,  he  turns  his  eyes 
toward  the  Southern  Cross,  burning  luridly  above  the 
tempest-vexed  ocean.  As  the  midnight  approaches,  the 
Southern  Cross  begins  to  bend,  and  the  whirling  worlds 
change  their  places,  and  with  starry  finger-points  the 
Almighty  marks  the  passage  of  Time  upon  the  dial  of 
the  universe;  and  though  no  bell  may  beat  the  glad 
tidings,  the  look-out  knows  that  the  midnight  is  passing 
— that  relief  and  rest  are  close  at  hand. 

**Let  the  people  take  heart  and  hope  everywhere,  for 
the  cross  is  bending,  the  midnight  is  passing,  and  joy 
Cometh  with  the  morning. 

**  *He  is  true  to  God  who  is  true  to  man. 
Wherever  wrong  is  done 
To  the  humblest  and  the  weakest 
'Neath  the  all-beholding  sun. 
That  wrong  is  also  done  to  us, 
And  they  are  slaves  most  base 
Whose  love  of  right  is  for  themselves 
And  not  for  all  the  race.' 

*'Your  Honor,  I  thank  you,  and  I  thank  all  of  this 
court  for  their  courtesy,  for  their  kindness,  which  I  shall 
remember  always. 
•    *'I  am  prepared  to  receive  your  sentence.'' 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL  55 

The  Court  overruled  the  motion  of  Debs's  counsel  for 
a  new  trial  on  the  ground  of  a  faulty  indictment  and 
immaterial  and  improper  evidence  introduced  by  the 
prosecution.  Judge  Westenhaver  made  a  lengthy  state- 
ment from  the  bench,  reviewing  the  evidence.  He  said 
that  men  of  the  power  and  influence  of  Debs  were  re- 
sponsible in  a  large  measure  for  *' other  ignorant  and 
unthinking  foreigners"  getting  into  similar  difficulty. 
The  Court  held  he  yielded  to  none  in  his  sympathy  and 
tenderness  toward  the  poor  and  the  struggling,  and  ex- 
pressed his  amazement  at  *'the  remarkable  self-delusion 
and  self-deception  of  Mr.  Debs  who  assumes  that  he  is 
serving  humanity  and  the  downtrodden.'' 

*'I  am  a  conserver  of  the  peace  and  a  defender  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,"  avowed  the 
Court,  looking  squarely  into  the  face  of  Debs  whose  eyes 
met  squarely  those  of  his  judge.  The  Court  admitted 
his  admiration  of  Debs's  sincerity  and  courage,  and 
added  that  the  principles  which  Debs  had  espoused  be- 
fore the  jury  and  the  Court  were  **  anarchy  pure  and 
simple,"  and  not  in  conformity  with  any  works  on 
Socialism  that  he  had  read.  The  Court  denounced  as 
enemies  those  persons  'Svithin  our  borders  who  would 
strike  the  sword  from  the  hand  of  this  nation  while  she 
is  engaged  in  defending  herself  against  a  foreign  and 
brutal  power." 

The  Court  then  sentenced  Debs  to  serve  ten  years  in 
the  West  Virginia  State  Penitentiary  at  Moundsville 
on  each  of  the  three  counts  upon  which  he  was  found 
guilty,  the  sentence  to  run  concurrently.  Debs's  bail 
of  $10,000  was  continued,  and  he  was  released,  but  only 
on  condition  that  he  would  remain  at  his  home  in  Terre 
Haute  or  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Court  pending 
the  disposition  of  his  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  The  Socialist  Party  had  decided 
that  Debs  should  make  a  nation-wide  speaking  tour  in 
behalf  of  other  political  and  industrial  prisoners  con- 


66      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

victed  under  the  same  statute,  but  the  ruling  of  the 
Court  limited  his  activities  in  this  direction  to  the 
northern  judicial  district  of  Ohio  and  his  home  town. 
Debs  held  scores  of  meetings  in  the  cities  and  towns 
embraced  by  this  area  while  his  appeal  was  being  pre- 
pared. He  did  not  miss  a  single  opportunity  to  ad- 
dress his  followers,  and  each  address  was  substantially 
a  reiteration  of  the  principles  enunciated  in  his  Canton 
and  jury  speeches. 

On  March  10th,  1919,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  upheld  the  conviction  and  sentence  of 
Debs.* 

Debs  was  at  home  when  the  news  reached  him  that 
his  appeal  had  been  denied.  He  gave  the  following 
broadside  to  the  press  associations : 

*'The  decision  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  Supreme  Court  as  a  ruling  class  tribunal. 
It  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  So  far  as  I  am  per- 
sonally concerned,  the  decision  is  of  small  consequence. 
But  there  is  an  issue  at  stake  of  vital  interest  to  the 
American  people.  It  involves  the  fundamental  right 
of  free  speech.  With  this,  our  boasted  freedom  is  a  de- 
lusion and  a  farce. 

''The  Supreme  Court  has  dodged  the  issue.  It  has 
held  the  Espionage  Law  valid  without  affirming  its 
constitutionality.  The  real  issue  before  the  court  was 
the  constitutionality  of  the  act.  This  issue  the  Supreme 
Court  did  not  dare  to  decide.  What  the  Supreme  Court 
did  decide  is  that  the  Constitution  is  another  'scrap  of 
paper. ' 

"Great  issues  are  not  decided  by  courts,  but  by  the 
people.  I  have  no  concern  in  what  the  coterie  of  be- 
gowned  corporation  lawyers  in  Washington  may  decide 
in  my  case.  The  court  of  final  resort  is  the  people,  and 
that  court  will  be  heard  from  in  due  time. 

*  Full  text  of  decision  of  Supreme  Court  in  the  Debs  case  may 
be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


TRIAL,  CONVICTION  AND  APPEAL         57 

*'The  decision  just  rendered  places  the  United  States 
where  old  Russia  under  the  Czar  left  off.  It  is  good 
for,  at  least,  a  million  Bolshevist  recruits  in  this  country. 

^'I  stand  by  every  word  of  the  Canton  speech.  The 
Supreme  Court  to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding,  the 
Espionage  Law  is  perfectly  infamous,  and  a  disgrace,  as 
well,  to  the  capitalist  despotism  at  whose  behest  it  was 
enacted. 

*' Sixty  years  ago  the  Supreme  Court  affirmed  the 
validity  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  law  to  save  chattel 
slavery.  Five  years  later  that  infamous  institution  was 
swept  from  the  land  in  a  torrent  of  blood.  I  despise 
the  Espionage  Law  with  every  drop  of  blood  in  my 
veins,  and  I  defy  the  Supreme  Court  and  all  its  powers 
of  capitalism  to  do  their  worst. 

'*A11  hail  to  the  workers  of  America  and  the  world! 

**The  day  of  emancipation  is  dawning." 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON 

IT  was  about  eleven  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning, 
April  12tli,  1919,  when  tlie  telephone  rang  in  Debs's 
home.  District  Attorney  Wertz,  of  Cleveland,  was  at 
the  other  end  of  the  wire.  Debs  answered.  The  dis- 
trict attorney  informed  Debs  that  he  should  make  ready 
at  once  to  come  to  Cleveland  and  surrender  himself  to 
the  government  authorities  who  would  take  him  to  the 
Moundsville  penitentiary.  Debs  was  told  that  no 
guards  would  be  sent  to  Terre  Haute  to  accompany 
him  on  the  journey  to  Cleveland. 

"Thank  you,  Mr.  Wertz,  I'll  be  right  along,"  said 
Debs  as  he  hung  up  the  receiver. 

From  that  moment  until  9.30  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
Debs  was  busying  himself  at  home  packing  for  the  jour- 
ney to  prison.  Mrs.  Debs  helped  him  with  this  and  that, 
reminding  him  to  write  that  little  note  before  he  went 
away,  and  * '  Don 't  you  think  you  should  attend  to  this  ? '  * 
All  day  long  telegrams  and  special  delivery  letters 
poured  into  his  home  at  451  North  Eighth  street.  They 
were  from  his  friends  in  all  corners  of  the  continent. 

I  had  arrived  in  Terre  Haute  a  little  before  2  o  'clock. 
There  were  crowds  at  the  station  and  I  felt  sure  that 
Debs  had  gone  away.  I  was  aware  that  his  moments  of 
freedom  were  few.  I  hailed  a  taxi-cab.  "Take  me  to 
Debs's  home,"  I  urged.  A  moment  later  it  occurred  to 
me  that,  possibly,  the  driver  did  not  know  where  Debs 
lived.  I  told  him.  The  driver  smiled.  "I  wish  I  had 
a  dollar  for  every  man  I've  driven  to  Debs's  home. 
Why,  more  people  in  Terry  Hut  know  where    'Gene 

58 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  59 

Debs  lives  than  they  know  the  location  of  City  Hall.'* 
In  a  few  moments  we  were  at  the  Debs  home.  A  tall, 
matronly  woman,  with  gentle  and  kindly  face,  opened 
the  door.  There  was  a  slight  hesitancy  in  her  manner. 
It  instantly  occurred  to  me  that  persons  coming  to  that 
home  on  this  day  were  no  less  than  intruders,  inter- 
lopers. Yes,  Debs  was  at  home,  she  said,  but  very  busy. 
''He  is  upstairs  now  writing  letters,"  she  said.  A  few 
moments  after  I  had  stepped  into  the  parlor  I  heard 
'Gene's  footsteps  on  the  stairs.  His  eye  was  clear,  and 
his  voice  was  firm,  sweet  and  resonant.  His  shoulders 
were  slightly  more  stooped,  possibly  due  to  his  recent 
confinement  to  bed  with  lumbago.  It  was  a  wonderful 
spring  day  down  there  in  southern  Indiana.  Every- 
where one  sensed  the  budding  and  bursting  of  new  life. 
Debs  felt  it. 

**Well,  I  am  ready  to  go  to  prison.  I  am  ready  to 
pay  the  ultimate  penalty  for  speaking  what  to  me  was 
the  truth.  I  said  in  court  at  Cleveland  that  I  had  not 
one  word  to  retract.  I  have  not  a  word  to  retract  now. 
I  would  say  over  again  what  I  said  at  Canton."  His 
mouth  contracted  as  his  lips  tightened  in  determination. 
I  asked  Debs  if  he  could  tell  me  what  his  feelings  were 
on  the  eve  of  his  going  to  prison.  He  smiled,  and  I 
knew  at  once  that  I  had  asked  a  foolish  question,  for 
his  answer  to  it  was  flashed  in  his  confident,  winning 
manner. 

''What  about  a  pardon?"  he  repeated  my  question. 
*'I  don't  know  anything  about  one.  I  have  asked  for 
none,  nor  shall  I.  I  stand  on  the  threshold  of  going  to 
prison  with  malice  toward  none,  and  with  perfect  faith 
in  the  rectitude  of  my  course  and  an  absolute  confidence 
in  the  justice  and  ultimate  triumph  of  the  cause  to 
which  I  have  gladly  given  my  services.  To  ask  a  par- 
don would  be  to  confess  guilt. ' '  Debs 's  eyes  were  flash- 
ing fire,  and  a  steely  glint  stole  into  them.  Debs  said  he 
thought  that  the  reactionary  element  in  the  political  and 


60     DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

industrial  spheres  of  the  country  feared  the  spread  of 
Bolshevism  over  the  United  States,  and  that  if  they 
could  but  cut  out  its  tongue,  meaning  the  elimination  of 
himself,  they  would  have  killed  it.  At  that  time  he 
thought  it  not  unlikely  that  President  Wilson  might 
intervene,  though  he  did  not  expect  or  wish  it. 

** Wilson  has  a  vision,''  Debs  said.  ** There  is  some 
light  on  his  social  horizon,  however  much  it  may  be 
obscured  by  the  clouds  that  hover  around  him.  He 
sees,  or  seems  to  see,  at  some  moments,  that  the  liberties 
of  the  people  cannot  be  crushed  by  repressive  measures, 
but  there  are  tremendous  forces  behind  the  President,  or 
before  him,  I  don't  know  which,  that  won't  let  him  be 
free." 

He  mentioned  the  large  and  enthusiastic  meetings  he 
had  been  holding  in  the  northern  judicial  district  of 
Ohio,  and  while  speaking  of  them  he  became  oblivious  of 
the  gray  journey  he  was  soon  to  take  to  prison. 

Only  a  few  persons  in  Terre  Haute  knew  that  Debs 
was  leaving  them  that  night.  A  few  of  his  townsmen 
were  bent  upon  holding  a  huge  demonstration  in  his 
honor.  Debs  requested  them  to  call  it  off.  *'I  just 
want  to  slip  out  quietly  now.  When  I  come  back — 
that  will  be  the  time." 

A  little  way  down  the  street  from  his  two-story  frame 
dwelling  two  children  were  playing  with  a  kitten.  I 
had  just  left  Debs's  home,  but  as  an  experiment  I  wanted 
to  know  what  his  little  neighbors  thought  of  him.  I 
asked  one  of  them  where  Debs  lived. 

**  Right  in  that  second  house  from  the  comer,  two 
doors  above  Sycamore  street.  You  can't  miss  him;  he's 
the  man  with  the  kind  face."  Then  the  little  girl 
chirped  up:  *'Yes,  the  other  day  he  patted  me  on  my 
head  and  told  me  not  to  hurt  my  kitten,  and  I  have 
not  squeezed  it  since."  This  led  me  to  talk  to  whom- 
ever I  chanced  to  meet  about  'Gene  Debs  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  afternoon. 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  61 

Down  on  the  railroad  tracks  near  the  station  was  a 
watchman's  shanty.  Inside  was  the  watchman,  an  old 
man,  looking  to  be  about  sixty  years.  His  face  was 
red  and  weatherbeaten.  His  eyes  were  red,  too,  from 
the  wind  and  cinders.  He  was  reaching  his  arm 
through  the  window  to  dip  a  cup  into  a  pail  of  water 
that  was  placed  on  an  upturned  box. 

*'Well,  I  guess  I  oughta  know  where  'Gene  lives," 
he  said,  answering  my  inquiry.  He  gave  me  the  accu- 
rate direction. 

''You  know  they're  taking  him  away  to  prison  to- 
night?" I  ventured. 

"Yes,  I  know  it."  A  fierce  glint  tempered  with  sad- 
ness stole  into  the  old  railroader's  eyes. 

"I  suppose  you  are  going  up  to  say  'Good-by'  to 
him  before  he  goes  away?" 

' '  Oh,  'Gene  never  goes  out  of  Terry  Hut  but  what  he 
comes  by  this  shanty  and  yells  in  'So  long.  Bob,  I'll 
see  you  soon  again.'  He'll  be  comin'  'long  here  to-night 
before  he  goes  away.  I'll  bet  he  won't  be  gone  as  long 
as  some  of  those  times  when  he  made  the  run  for  Presi- 
dent." That  night,  just  before  train  time,  'Gene,  his 
brother  Theodore,  and  I  were  walking  from  his  home 
to  the  station. 

"Just  a  minute,  boys,"  said  'Gene.  "I  want  to  stop 
at  that  shanty  over  there  and  say  'So  long'  to  Bob." 

Strolling  down  Seventh  street  towards  the  center  of 
the  city's  heart  an  elderly  man  hove  into  sight.  He 
looked  as  though  he  might  be  a  retired  wage  worker, 
too  old  now,  maybe,  to  work  at  whatever  had  been  his 
trade.  A  butt  of  a  cigar  was  gripped  between  his  brown 
teeth,  and  a  battered  light  felt  hat  dipped  over  one  eye. 
His  clothes  hung  upon  his  slender  frame  in  a  manner 
resembling  nothing  so  much  as  a  scarecrow's.  I  put 
the  same  questions  to  him.  With  some  show  of  city 
pride  after  the  manner  of  an  elder  citizen  who  has  a 


62      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

speaking  acquaintance  with  all  the  local  celebrities,  my 
friend  owned  that  he  knew  Debs  "very  well/' 

"I  once  worked  for  him,"  he  vouchsafed,  swelling  up 
just  a  little.  "Yes,  siree,  I  tinkered  'round  his  front 
porch  and  painted  'er  up.  So  'Gene  is  leavin'  Terry 
Hut  for  prison  to-night !  Well,  I'll  be  damned.  That's 
tough,  ain't  it?"  I  ventured  the  suggestion  that  some 
day  Terre  Haute  would  erect  a  monument  to  the  mem- 
ory of  its  foremost  citizen. 

"Well,  I  don't  know.  Now,  we  ain't  much  on  monu- 
ments here  in  Terry  Hut.  We  don't  go  in  for  the  deco- 
rations. Did  you  see  that  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  monu- 
ment down  there  in  the  park  on  your  way  up?  Ain't 
that  a  hell  of  a  lookin'  thing?  No,  siree,  we  don't  go 
in  much  for  the  monuments  in  Terry  Hut.  Well,  I'll 
just  go  'round  and  say  *Good-by'  to  'Gene  before  he 
goes."  The  old  wage  worker  slowly  ambled  off  toward 
the  Debs  home  to  take  his  parting  farewell. 

Down  at  the  Terre  Haute  House  some  leading  citizens 
and  politicians  were  standing  in  groups  out  on  the 
pavement.  Several  iron  rods  that  supported  the  awning 
were  bent  in  just  about  up  to  a  man's  shoulder,  and 
several  citizens  were  settled  snugly  against  them.  The 
bar  was  crowded.  The  next  man  to  me  was  drinking 
slowly  from  a  glass  of  beer.  He  wore  striped  trousers 
that  were  frayed  at  the  heels,  and  a  black  cutaway  coat 
that  was  green  and  shiny  at  the  back  and  elbows.  A 
greenish  black  braid  ran  around  its  edges  and  the  cuffs. 
A  high  Piccadilly  collar  with  soiled  flaps  pinched  his 
neck.  He  had  a  professional  air  about  him.  We  struck 
up  a  conversation  about  Debs. 

"Well,  I  should  say  I  do  know  him — for  twenty 
years,  sir." 

"What  does  Terre  Haute  think  about  Debs  going  to 
prison?"  I  inquired. 

"Well,  now,  speaking  for  myself,"  he  began,  "I've 
known  Mr.  Debs  for  many  years.     I  like  him  person- 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  63 

ally,  but  he's  got  some  cranky  notions  in  his  head.  If 
he  didn't  have  them  fool  ideas  about  saving  humanity 
he'd  be  all  right.  What's  more,  sir,  humanity  as  it  is 
ain't  worth  anybody  goin'  to  jail  for."  He  gulped  to 
the  dregs. 

* '  I  '11  tell  you,  I  hope  Debs  goes  to  prison,  and  I  hope 
he  s-e-r-v-e-s  twenty-four  hours  just  to  prove  to  him  and 
his  followers  that  the  law  is  bigger 'n  he  is." 

' '  Everybody  in  Terre  Haute  loves  Debs, ' '  an  editor  of 
the  Terre  Haute  Tribune  told  me,  "but  many  of  them 
think  he  was  mighty  foolish  to  make  that  speech  at 
Canton  when  he  did.  He  had  no  right  to  do  that.  I 
guess  the  feeling  in  Terre  Haute  about  Debs  is  some- 
thing like  this:  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  people  don't 
like  his  ideas,  but  they  worship  the  man.  They  all  love 
him.  But  there  is  probably  not  one  man  or  woman  in 
that  ninety-five  per  cent  but  who  would  gladly  go  to 
jail  for  'Gene  if  they  could." 

Shortly  before  nine  o'clock  I  went  back  to  the  Debs 
home.  Lights  were  shining  through  the  side  windows 
of  his  sitting  room,  which  was  simply  furnished,  like 
any  ordinary  American  home.  It  was  marked  by  its 
orderliness  and  comforts,  without  any  pretensions  or 
luxuries.  Debs  was  sitting  in  an  ample  rocking  chair 
smoking  a  cigar.  He  might  just  have  returned  from 
a  campaign  trip.  There  was  good  nature  all  around. 
'Gene  seemed  to  be  the  one  least  affected  by  the  ordeal 
through  which  he  must  pass  in  the  days  and  months  to 
come.  Around  him  were  his  wife,  Theodore  and  his 
wife  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Debs's  aged  mother,  and  her 
brother,  Arthur  Baur,  a  local  druggist. 

In  a  vase  on  a  table  was  a  huge  bunch  of  American 
Beauty  roses,  the  gift  of  Mrs.  Flynn,  an  old  washer- 
woman, and  a  neighbor.  ''She  is  a  Roman  Catholic," 
Debs  said,  "and  every  morning  for  many  years  she 
has  prayed  for  me."  Debs  blew  a  ring  of  blue  smoke 
and  smiled  sadly.     The  rear  of  the  house  resembled  a 


64      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

miniature  horticultural  hall  filled  with  myriad  flowers 
that  had  been  brought  to  the  house  aU  that  day  and 
evening,  the  gifts  of  Debs's  neighbors,  many  of  whom 
did  not  share  his  social  ideas,  but  who  were  deeply  fond 
of  and  admired  the  man.  Debs  spoke  of  a  rich  over- 
all manufacturer  who  lived  a  few  doors  from  him.  * '  Of 
course  he  doesn't  like  the  hard  things  I  say  about  capi- 
talism, but  he  is  a  splendid  neighbor.  He  was  here 
to-day  to  say  farewell." 

''Well,  Eugene,  we  had  better  start,"  put  in  Mrs. 
Debs,  rising. 

''Yes,"  replied  Debs.  "We  don't  want  to  miss  the 
train." 

Theodore,  who  has  been  closer  than  a  brother  to  'Gene, 
got  Debs's  coat  from  the  rack.  Mrs.  Debs's  mother  was 
weeping  softly.  'Gene  went  over  to  her  side  and  patted 
her  cheek.  "It  is  all  right,  mother,"  he  said  with  in- 
finite tenderness,  ' '  it  will  come  out  all  right  in  the  end. ' ' 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  on  that  very  afternoon  a 
delegation  representing  the  Terre  Haute  branch  of  So- 
cialists and  the  Terre  Haute  Central  Labor  Union  called 
on  him  to  obtain  his  permission  to  hold  a  demonstration 
that  night, — which  Debs  refused, — there  were  at  the 
Big  Four  Railroad  station  more  than  200  of  the  old 
guard,  the  faithful  comrades  who  would  not  let  their 
'Gene  go  away  without  a  farewell  and  a  last  shake  of 
his  hand.  Debs  strolled  right  into  the  crowd.  In- 
stantly he  was  surrounded.  Those  who  could  not  edge 
their  way  right  up  to  him  reached  over  the  heads  of  the 
others  and  tugged  at  his  coat  sleeves.  They  repre- 
sented, typically  so,  the  American  labor  movement. 
They  were  not  all  Socialists.  But  they  were  all  work- 
ing men  and  women.  Debs  went  from  one  to  the  other 
avowing  his  love  for  them  all,  and  pledging  anew  to 
them  his  devotion  to  their  common  cause.  One  big  miner 
thrust  his  huge  form  through  the  crowd.  His  gnarled 
hand  clasped  Debs's  arm.    Tears  flowed  freely  from  his 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  65 

eyes  as  he  said :  **  We're  with  you,  'Gene, — ^by  God,  we're 
with  you  to  the  last  man." 

*'I  know  it,"  said  Debs,  patting  his  cheek  and  kiss- 
ing his  brow.  ** Until  the  last  drop  we'll  stand  together, 
all  of  us.  Only  by  standing  together  can  we  hope  for 
victory.  You  boys  take  care  of  the  outside  and  I'll 
take  care  of  the  inside."  A  volley  of  (»heers  from  two 
hundred  strong  throats  rent  the  air.  Debs  passed  into 
the  station  and  the  crowd  followed.  Every  few  mo- 
ments some  one  would  start  ** three  cheers,"  and  the 
throng  would  shout  its  response.  Merchants  competing 
with  each  other  for  trade  and  profits  could  not  possibly 
be  more  competitive  than  were  these  men,  vicing  with 
each  other  just  to  touch  the  garments  of  'Gene  Debs. 
Out  on  the  platform  they  surged  as  the  train  pulled 
into  the  station.  As  Debs  mounted  the  steps  of  his  car 
a  Pullman  porter  doffed  his  cap.  Debs  had  been  a  pas- 
senger in  his  car  many  times  before,  on  happier  occa- 
sions. Instantly  Debs  removed  his  own  hat.  Then  the 
crowd  uncovered,  even  the  women  removing  their  hats. 
In  this  manner  they  stood  for  some  minutes.  In  front 
of  the  crowd  a  soldier  was  standing.  On  one  sleeve 
were  two  gold  stripes,  indicating  a  year's  service  in 
France,  and  on  the  other  sleeve  one  gold  stripe,  indicat- 
ing a  wound  received  in  battle.  He  stood  first  on  one 
foot,  then  on  the  other.  When  he  could  restrain  him- 
self no  longer  he  climbed  up  the  steps,  grasped  Debs 
by  the  hand  and  shouted: 

**Mr.  Debs,  I  went  through  hell  over  there  for  them, 
and  now  I'm  ready  to  go  through  hell  over  here  for 
you."  The  crowd  let  out  a  whoop.  "And  there  are  a 
million  more  like  me,"  shouted  the  soldier  back  to  the 
crowd.  As  the  train  slowly  puffed  its  way  out  of  the 
shed  Debs  threw  a  kiss  to  his  wife,  and  his  friends.  A 
little  way  down  the  platform  a  young  woman  was  walk- 
ing with  a  man.     She  pulled  a  red  flower  from  her 


66      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

bosom  and  threw  it  at  Debs  who  was  still  standing  on 
the  platform. 

Arthur  Baur  and  myself,  who  were  to  accompany 
Debs  to  prison,  went  with  him  to  the  club  car  while 
the  porter  made  up  his  berth.  Earlier  that  day  Debs  had 
said: 

''During  my  incarceration  my  comrades  will  be  true 
and  my  enemies  will  be  satisfied,  and  therefore,  as  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  all  will  be  well  with  the  world." 

I  asked  him  how  Mrs.  Debs  was  bearing  up  under 
the  strain. 

''She  has  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  me  through 
every  storm  that  has  beat  upon  us,  and  she  is  standing 
firm  now. ' '  Debs  said  that  it  was  his  wife 's  regret  that 
she  could  not  go  with  him  to  prison.  "But  she  cannot 
do  that,  so  she  will  remain  here  to  keep  the  home  fires 
burning. ' ' 

All  about  the  Debs  home  there  was  every  outward 
indication  that  'Gene  would  remain  undisturbed  for  the 
rest  of  his  life.  A  man  was  working  in  the  little  garden 
in  back  of  the  home,  laying  out  new  flower  beds  for 
Mrs.  Debs  and  pruning  the  trees  on  the  strip  of  lawn 
in  front  of  their  house.  Quietly  standing  by  his  side 
throughout  all  of  his  trials  and  tribulations,  throughout 
all  of  the  homage  and  glory  that  have  been  lavished 
upon  her  husband,  Mrs.  Debs  declined  to  give  her  own 
opinion  concerning  the  plight  in  which  Debs  found  him- 
self. It  has  been  her  life  rule  to  permit  Debs  to  speak 
for  himself  on  every  matter  of  public  import.  On  that 
day  her  hair  seemed  just  a  wee  bit  whiter;  her  cheeks 
may  have  lost  a  little  of  their  accustomed  rosiness;  she 
might  even  have  been  somewhat  thinner;  but  she  was 
quite  as  erect,  and  carried  her  head  in  the  same  un- 
afraid manner  as  of  old,  resembling  nothing  so  much  as 
a  great  tree  in  some  forest  over  which  has  swept  many  a 
strong  wind,  yet  which  remains  steadfast,  braced  to 
weather  any  storm  that  may  arise  again. 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  67 

Debs  smoked  two  or  three  cigars  as  we  sat  in  the 
club  car.  He  was  lively,  mostly  in  reminiscent  mood, 
and  in  excellent  spirits.  During  the  conversation  I 
suggested  to  him  that  his  imprisonment  would  tend  to 
accelerate  whatever  boom  may  otherwise  have  been 
started  for  him  for  President.  He  waved  it  aside, 
saying,  "When  the  presidential  year  comes  around  I'll 
be  the  best  swabber  of  floors,  or  the  best  prison  clerk, 
in  Moundsville. ' ' 

This  led  him  to  speak  of  leaders. 

*'Very  often  a  leader  is,  in  fact,  a  misleader.  It  is 
the  workers,  the  men  and  women  who  do  all  the  hard 
work  in  every  line  of  trade  and  profession — in  building 
up  their  own  Socialist  branches  and  their  unions,  to 
whom  all  the  credit,  homage,  honor  and  glory  is  due. 
They  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  gold  in  the  rain- 
bow,— these  simple  people,  these  Jimmie  and  Jane  Hig- 
ginses  who  work  early  and  late  for  the  cause,  who  ar- 
range the  meetings,  who  wash  the  dishes  after  the  festive 
dinners — ^how  much  we  owe  to  the  workers.  They  ex- 
pect no  pay  and  they  receive  no  honors.  If  you  were 
to  approach  them  with  your  thanks  for  the  good  they 
have  done,  they  would  blush  to  the  roots  of  their  hair. 
I  have  had  a  regret  all  of  my  days  that  I  shall  not  live 
long  enough  to  repay  these  dear  comrades  of  mine  for 
the  wonderful  love  and  honors  they  have  showered  upon 
me  with  their  seamed  and  scarred  hands,  worn  and 
shriveled  from  the  toil  that  has  been  their  lot.  Their 
joy  is  to  serve,  yet  none  serve  them.  All  that  I  am  in 
this  world  is  what  my  comrades  have  made  me.  They 
are  the  fruit  of  the  choicest  tree  that  ever  grew. 

Across  from  us,  sitting  in  the  brightly  lighted  car, 
sat  several  men,  smoking  and  drinking  light  beverages. 
They  were  going  somewhere  for  business  or  pleasure. 
Debs  was  going  to  prison.  They  knew  he  sat  within  a 
few  feet  of  them.  A  little  while  before  they  had  come 
out  on  the  platform  at  Terre  Haute  to  see  what  all  the 


68      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

racket  was  about.  People  asleep  in  their  berths  had 
come  out  with  wraps  about  their  pajamas  and  night- 
gowns. One  tall  fellow,  clad  in  pajamas,  shook  Debs's 
hand  and  said:  "Mr.  Debs,  I  am  going  to  Canton. 
Have  you  ever  been  there  ? ' ' 

*'0h,  yes,'^  replied  Debs,  appreciating  the  humor,  *'I 
once  made  a  speech  there  which  the  government  didn't 
like.'' 

** Suppose,"  I  asked  him  during  the  evening,  ** sup- 
pose President  Wilson  should  cable  a  pardon  for  you 
without  any  strings  attached  to  it,  an  unconditional 
pardon,  what  would  you  do  ?  What  would  be  your  atti- 
tude?" At  that  time  President  Wilson  was  in  Paris 
helping  to  arrange  the  terms  of  peace  for  the  world 
which  for  the  five  preceding  years  had  been  swept  by 
war.  Debs  drew  on  his  cigar.  As  the  blue  smoke  curled 
from  his  lips  his  answer  was  ready: 

*  *  I  should  refuse  to  accept  it,  unless  the  same  pardon 
were  extended  to  every  man  and  woman  in  prison  under 
the  Espionage  Law.  They  must  let  them  all  out — 
I.W.W.  and  all — or  I  won't  come  out.  I  don't  want 
any  special  dispensation  of  justice  in  my  case.  It  is 
perfectly  clear.  I  always  have  taken  that  position  and  I 
cannot  too  strongly  reassert  it  now. ' ' 

All  during  the  trip  to  Cleveland  Debs  talked  gayly 
enough.  He  told  stories  of  how  back  in  1896  he  had 
campaigned  for  William  Jennings  Bryan  for  President. 
Even  during  that  campaign.  Debs  said,  he  was  getting 
along  fast  toward  Socialism.  ** Bryan's  lieutenants 
wanted  me  to  espouse  the  Sixteen-to-one,  Free  Silver 
panacea,  but  I  was  talking  straight  Industrial  Unionism, 
and  those  were  the  days,  too,  when  to  talk  for  Indus- 
trial Unionism,  or  the  One  Big  Union,  was  to  espouse 
*  anarchy,'  for  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  was 
at  that  time  growing  fast  toward  its  full  strength  as  a 
craft  union  movement,  and  Bryan's  managers  antici- 
pated a  number  of  votes  from  that  element."    Debs's 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PEISON  69 

crowds  in  those  early  days  ran  neck  and  neck  in  num- 
bers with  those  of  Bryan  himself,  and  this  fact  would 
au^r  well  for  his  power  as  a  speaker  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago. 

''Many  years  ago,"  he  went  on,  "during  the  great 
Cripple  Creek  strike  in  Colorado  I  was  invited  to  go  out 
there  and  help  organize  the  miners,  who  were  struggling 
to  obtain  the  eight-hour  day.  In  those  days  the  '  Eight- 
Hour  Day'  movement  was  labor  heresj^  I  would  not 
again  go  into  a  situation  such  as  I  found  out  there  for 
anything  in  the  world — not  for  anything  except  Social- 
ism. 

* '  The  towns  were  flooded  with  armed  thugs,  who  were 
ordered  to  shoot  all  labor  agitators  on  sight.  The  busi- 
ness men  and  mine  owners  were  determined  they  would 
not  allow  a  labor  union  in  that  district.  I  went  out 
there.  At  the  station  I  was  met  by  a  large  group  of 
armed  thugs,  the  sheriff  and  his  deputies.  They  made 
up  their  minds  that  I  should  not  make  a  speech  that 
night.''  Debs  said  he  told  the  leader  of  the  gang  that, 
''This  will  either  be  the  beginning  of  organized  labor 
in  Colorado  or  the  end  of  me. ' ' 

"They  held  conference  on  the  curb  while  I  went  to 
a  hotel.  That  night  I  made  my  speech  and  held  a  most 
successful  meeting.  The  next  morning  I  was  standing 
on  the  curb  near  my  hotel,  talking  with  several  of  the 
union  men.  There  were  only  a  few  who  had  dared  to 
be  seen  with  me.  One  of  the  men  drew  my  attention 
to  a  big,  hulking  fellow  not  ten  feet  away.  He  was  the 
biggest  man  I  ever  saw  in  two  boots.  He  had  a  deadly 
eye.  I  could  see  the  butts  of  two  guns  protruding  from 
his  hip  pockets. 

"  'See  that  fellow  over  there,  Mr.  Debs,'  one  of  my 
friends  said  to  me.  'Well,  he  is  a  sure  shot.  He  was 
never  known  to  miss  the  man  he  went  after.  Last  night 
that  man  stood  not  ten  feet  away  from  your  stand  all 
the  while  you  were  talking.    You  have  not  left  his  sight 


70      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

since  then.  He  has  been  following  you  every  step,  and 
he'll  be  the  last  man  to  see  you  out  of  town.' 

**  'Is  that  so?'  I  said  to  my  friend.  I  walked  over 
to  the  strong  man  on  the  curb  and  extended  my  hand 
to  him. 

'*  'My  friends  have  been  telling  me  that  you  were 
at  my  meeting  last  night,  that  you  have  been  watching 
my  movements  ever  since,  and  that  you  are  the  sure 
shot  of  Colorado.    I  am  glad  to  meet  you.' 

**  *Yes,  Mr.  Debs,  I've  been  watching  you  pretty  care- 
fully. I  knew  that  they  were  out  to  get  you  in  this 
yere  burg.  I  hail  from  Vincennes,  Indiana,  and  I  know 
you're  on  the  level  with  the  workingmen.    I  jest  made 

up  my  mind  that  any who  laid  his  dirty  hands 

on  you  would  be  carted  out  of  this  yere  region  a  corpse. ' 

*'The  fellow  blushed  to  the  roots  of  his  hair  like  a 
girl  when  I  thanked  him  for  the  personal  service  he  had 
rendered  to  me.  I  have  found  on  so  many  occasions 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  declare  accurately  who 
are  our  friends  and  who  are  our  enemies." 

At  five  0  'clock  next  morning  Debs  was  up  and  dressed. 
He  said  he  had  slept  only  about  an  hour,  but  had  been 
resting  with  his  thoughts.  While  the  train  was  creeping 
slowly  into  the  Cleveland  yards  Debs  asked  me  to  take 
his  statement  ''for  my  comrades  throughout  the  United 
States."  I  had  no  paper  at  hand,  so  I  fished  a  book 
from  my  grip,  and  was  ready  to  write  his  statement  in 
the  back  of  it.    This  is  the  statement : 

"As  I  am  about  to  enter  the  prison  doors,  I  wish  to 
send  to  the  Socialists  of  America  who  have  so  loyally 
stood  by  me  since  my  first  arrest  this  little  message  of 
love  and  cheer.  These  are  pregnant  days  and  promising 
ones. 

''We  are  all  on  the  threshold  of  tremendous  changes. 
The  workers  of  the  world  are  awakening  and  bestirring 
themselves  as  never  before.  All  the  forces  that  are 
playing  upon  the  modern  world  are  making  for  the 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  71 

overthrow  of  despotism  in  all  its  forms,  and  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  masses  of  mankind. 

' '  I  shall  be  in  prison  in  the  days  to  come,  but  my 
revolutionary  spirit  will  be  abroad  and  I  shall  not  be 
inactive.  Let  us  all  in  this  supreme  hour  measure  up 
to  our  full  stature  and  work  together  as  one  for  the  great 
cause  that  means  emancipation 'for  us  all. 

**Love  to  all  my  comrades  and  all  hail  to  the  revolu- 
tion." 

When  the  Cleveland  newspapers  announced,  Saturday 
evening,  that  Debs  would  leave  Terre  Haute  that  night 
for  Cleveland,  the  Socialists  hastily  prepared  for  a  mass 
meeting  at  which  Debs  was  to  speak.  Dodgers  printed 
in  scarlet  ink  were  scattered  through  the  streets  of  the 
city.  It  was  to  be  a  meeting  to  protest  against  the  im- 
prisonment of  Debs  and  the  other  political  and  indus- 
trial prisoners.  The  meeting  did  not  take  place  because 
Debs  was  spirited  out  of  Cleveland  three  hours  after  he 
arrived.  At  the  depot  he  was  met  by  Mrs.  Marguerite 
Prevy,  who  had  driven  up  from  Akron  with  her  sister, 
Mrs.  May  Deibel,  and  her  husband,  John.  They  were 
staunch  friends  of  Debs.  The  breakfast  over,  Debs  went 
to  the  Gillsy  House.  He  was  writing  a  note  to  his  folks 
at  home,  telling  of  his  safe  arrival,  when  two  United 
States  deputy  marshals  came  to  his  room  and  ordered 
him  to  come  with  them  to  the  Marshal's  office  in  the 
Federal  building.  With  Debs  at  that  moment  were  Mrs. 
Prevy,  J.  Louis  Engdahl  and  Alfred  Wagenknecht,  the 
last  two  coming  from  Chicago  as  representatives  of  the 
National  Socialist  Party,  and  who  would  accompany 
the  Debs  party  to  Moundsville. 

After  a  few  minutes'  stay  at  the  Federal  building, 
where  Marshal  Charles  W.  Lapp  prepared  the  necessary 
documents  for  delivering  Debs  to  prison,  the  prisoner, 
with  Marshal  Lapp  and  a  deputy,  appeared  at  a  side 
exit,  £ind  entered  an  automobile.  Those  of  us  who  were 
to  accompany  him  got  into  another  automobile.     The 


72      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Debs  car  tore  through  the  city  streets.  It  turned  cor- 
ners sharply,  the  driver  ignoring  all  traffic  regulations. 
Our  car  kept  up  the  whole  distance,  recklessly  brushing 
passing  vehicles  and  moving  trolley  cars.  Traffic  police- 
men waved  their  arms  in  frantic  yet  futile  attempt  to 
halt  the  dual  speeders.  For  an  hour  this  mad  race  con- 
tinued, until  finally  the  Debs  car  drew  up  before  a 
suburban  railroad  station  where  the  Marshal  purchased 
three  tickets  for  Youngstown.  His  pursuers  did  like- 
wise. Debs  was  taken  to  a  private  compartment  of  the 
train  and  we  were  allowed  to  sit  with  him.  The  Marshal 
then  told  us  that  we  were  to  make  the  trip  to  Mounds- 
ville  from  Youngstown  by  trolley.  This  was  done  to 
forestall  any  demonstrations  for  Debs  by  his  followers 
along  the  route.  The  trip  was  uneventful.  Debs  told 
stories  of  his  life,  of  the  American  Railway  Union's 
strike  back  in  1894,  and  similar  incidents  of  his  career. 
Every  now  and  then  he  would  turn  to  Marshal  Lapp, 
who  wanted  to  be  congenial  and  affable,  slap  him  on 
the  knee  and  ask  him  how  he  felt.  Just  before  wo 
reached  Youngstown  Debs  remarked  to  the  Marshal  that 
it  might  take  some  while  to  get  to  Moundsville  by  trolley. 

*'Well,  we  can  make  an  all-day  job  of  it,''  smiled 
Lapp. 

''Oh,  yes,"  rejoined  Debs,  with  perfect  good  hu- 
mor, *'we  have  ten  years  in  which  to  get  there."  Debs 
said  he  never  felt  in  better  spirits  in  all  his  life,  and 
added,  ''This  is  the  beginning  of  a  great  event  for  us 
all."  At  Youngstown,  a  little  boy  of  twelve  years,  the 
son  of  a  Socialist,  espied  Debs  walking  through  the 
streets  with  his  guards  on  the  way  to  the  interurban 
station.  The  little  fellow  threw  himself  in  'Gene's 
arms.  After  a  half -hour  wait  we  were  aboard  a  trolley 
for  Leetonia;  from  there  to  East  Liverpool;  to  Steu- 
benville;  to  Wellsburg,  West  Virginia;  to  Wheeling, 
where  Debs  was  allowed  thirty  minutes  for  supper.  He 
had  not  eaten  since  early  morning  in  Cleveland.    We, 


THE  JOUENEY  TO  PRISON  73 

reached  Wheeling  by  eight  o'clock.  Debs  was  kept 
jumping  off  and  on  trolley  cars  all  day  Sunday.  He 
was  an  old  man,  64  years  old,  recently  confined  to  bed 
with  illness.  There  was  not  one  word  of  complaint 
from  him,  yet  he  was  visibly  exhausted.  When  one  of 
his  party  complained  about  his  being  '* kidnaped*'  in 
this  fashion.  Debs  only  smiled  and  said,  * '  It  *s  all  right ; 
let  them  have  their  inning  now;  we'll  have  ours  some 
day." 

Debs's  trolley  slid  across  trestles,  jolted  and  jostled 
along  the  foothills  of  the  AUeghenies,  with  every  now  and 
then  happy  couples  getting  on  and  off  the  various  cars 
on  which  we  traveled.  They  were  making  merry  on  a 
Palm  Sunday  frolic.  Once,  I  was  reminded  of  what  a 
barber  in  Terre  Haute  had  remarked  in  speaking  casu- 
ally to  a  customer  about  Debs's  impending  imprison- 
ment. *'Well,  it's  coming  along  to  Easter  time,  and 
we're  getting  ready  for  another  crucifixion." 

Late  in  the  afternoon  Debs  was  so  weary  he  could 
hold  up  his  head  no  longer.  Presently  it  bent  slowly 
toward  his  breast,  and  in  this  posture  he  slept  as  the 
car  rocked  his  head  from  side  to  side.  Life's  grayest 
shadows  held  no  sadder  picture  than  this.  We  who 
accompanied  Debs  to  prison  shall  never  forget  his  sad 
and  sleeping  figure,  with  head  bent  on  bosom,  his  long 
frame  cramped  in  a  trolley  car  seat,  with  two  guards 
ever  vigilant,  moving  along  the  Ohio  Valley,  with  the 
river  flowing  at  our  right,  with  great  earth  swells  ris- 
ing and  falling  on  either  side  like  huge  brown  and 
green  waves. 

Shortly  before  ten  o'clock  we  arrived  at  Moundsville. 
The  great  turrets  of  the  prison  arose  before  us  like 
ancient  towers.  As  we  passed  along  the  wall,  sickly 
yellow  lights  shone  through  the  grated  windows  like  a 
sieve  held  over  a  number  of  candles.  Debs  was  still 
carrying  his  heavy  grip  which  he  would  let  none  of  his 
party  carry  for  him.     He  was  walking  slowly  beside 


74      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Marshal  Lapp,  and  he  was  talking  softly  to  his  guard. 
I  heard  him  say  this: 

''Marshal,  you  have  treated  me  like  a  gentleman  all 
the  way  down  here.  I  should  not  wish  you  ever  to  feel 
that  you  have  done  me  the  slightest  injury  or  harm  by 
bringing  me  here.  I  understand  perfectly  why  I  am 
going  to  prison,  and  I  am  glad  to  come  here  for  the 
reason  that  I  am  coming  here.  So  set  your  conscience 
at  perfect  ease  so  far  as  I  am  concerned."  Debs^s  long 
arm  slowly  stretched  across  the  broad  shoulders  of  his 
guard  and  in  this  fashion  he  entered  the  prison — ^with 
poise  and  composure. 

Once  inside  the  prison,  Debs  was  met  by  the  warden^ 
Joseph  Z.  Terrell.  In  his  characteristic  half-stooping 
manner.  Debs  extended  his  hand  to  the  warden.  In  a 
moment  the  formalities  were  over  and  Debs  stepped 
into  an  automatic  turn-table  inclosed  in  a  double  barred 
grating.  At  the  first  meeting,  the  warden  spoke  kindly 
to  his  new  charge.  Debs  was  taken  to  a  receiving  cell, 
No.  51,  in  the  south  wing  of  the  prison.  He  had  em- 
braced each  of  us  just  before  he  stepped  into  the  turn- 
table. There  was  a  moment's  turning  of  his  head,  and 
his  face  was  sadly  radiant  in  the  mellow  glow  of  an 
incandescent  hanging  in  the  hall.  The  warden  assured 
us  that  Debs  would  be  well  taken  care  of  in  the  prison. 

"He  will  not  be  on  exhibition  for  the  curiosity  seek- 
ers, and  I  shall  respect  his  wishes,  so  far  as  the  rules 
will  allow,  as  I  would  those  of  a  man  of  similar  character 
and  intelligence,"  said  Terrell.  From  the  first  it  was 
apparent  that  Debs  was  in  good  and  kind  hands  as  far 
as  a  prison  is  concerned.  Debs  was  to  be  allowed  to 
write  as  many  letters  as  he  pleased,  subject,  of  course, 
to  prison  censorship,  whereas  the  rules  permitted  only 
one  each  week.  He  would  be  assigned  to  light  and  easy 
clerical  duty  in  the  hospital. 

Moreover,  the  warden  would  allow  Debs  to  receive 
any  number  of  Socialist  newspapers  and  publications, 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  75 

the  only  restriction  being  that  he  would  destroy  them 
when  he  had  read  them.  This  provision  was  made  with 
a  view  to  keeping  the  other  prisoners  "from  being  con- 
taminated by  Socialist  ideas."  The  warden  would  also 
allow  Debs  to  receive,  reasonably,  unrestricted  visits 
from  members  of  his  family  and  personal  friends.  Be- 
fore we  left  that  night  the  warden  permitted  us  to  go 
to  Debs's  cell  and  bid  him  good-night.  He  had  removed 
his  coat  and  vest,  collar  and  tie.  He  was  preparing 
for  bed.  We  did  not  linger  before  his  barred  door. 
With  one  hand  gripping  the  steel  rods  of  his  cage,  he 
extended  the  other  through  the  grating  and  bid  us  each 
good-by.  His  cell  was  jet  black  within.  In  the  night 
it  was  impossible  for  the  eye  to  discern  its  length  or 
width. 

*'It  is  all  right,  boys,"  said  Debs;  **I  am  going  to 
sleep  the  sleep  of  the  just  to-night.  I  am  very  tired. 
Don't  worry  for  me,  or  about  me.  We  know  what  we 
are  about,  and  I  shall  be  very  comfortable  here."  His 
face  was  close  up  to  the  bars,  looking  after  us  as  we 
walked  down  the  narrow  iron  balcony  to  the  floor. 
Something  that  we  could  not  name  rose  in  our  throats 
to  choke  us.  Something  that  we  could  not  define  or 
see  rose  up  before  us  to  beat  us  down.  The  sound  of 
our  footsteps  on  the  granite  floor  aroused  the  sleeping 
prisoners  in  that  section,  and  in  a  moment  there  was  a 
chorus  of  coughing  such  as  is  heard  in  a  hospital  for 
consumptives. 

Debs  was  given  number  2253.  On  the  prison  records 
his  occupation  was  entered  as  writer  and  lecturer.  He 
was  the  only  convict  among  the  896  men  there  at  that 
time  who  would  not  be  permitted  to  practice  his  trade 
or  profession.  Debs  was  told  that  he  would  be  expected 
to  obey  all  the  rules  of  the  prison,  and  Debs  promised 
that  he  would,  saying  to  the  warden :  *  *  If  I  transgress, 
it  will  not  be  intentional,  and  I  want  you  to  call  my  at- 
tention to  my  error  so  I  will  not  repeat  it." 


76      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

The  next  afternoon,  Monday,  April  14,  1919,  Debs 
was  assigned  to  the  prison  hospital.  He  had  bathed 
and  donned  the  prison  uniform,  a  light  gray  with  tiny 
checks.  The  suit  bore  no  external  stamp  or  marking 
of  identification,  as  is  customary,  and,  in  fact,  it  was 
not  unbecoming  to  him.  It  was  the  sort  of  clothing 
that  any  one  might  purchase  in  a  very  cheap  clothing 
store,  the  material  hard  and  durable.  We  found  him 
sitting  in  a  low  rocker,  reading  and  smoking  his  pipe. 
His  room  was  ample,  with  two  windows,  and  containing 
a  single  white  iron  bed.  In  one  corner  of  his  room 
there  was  a  stationary  white  wash-stand,  and  in  another 
a  gas  heater  was  burning  brightly  to  take  away  the 
chill.  Debs  was  as  comfortable  as  it  is  possible  for  a 
man  to  be  in  prison.  There  were  no  bars  at  his  win- 
dows, which  faced  the  green  sward,  and  the  door  to  his 
room  and  the  one  opening  out  to  the  prison  yard  was 
unlocked  at  all  times.  He  could  stroll  about  the  yard 
as  often  and  as  long  as  he  chose. 

As  we  entered  his  room,  Debs  put  down  the  book  he 
had  been  reading,  disturbing  a  large  gray  cat  that  was 
sleeping  at  his  side.  The  warden  observed  his  book. 
It  was  John  Reed 's  first  volume  of  the  Russian  Bolsheviki 
Revolution,  entitled  ''Ten  Days  That  Shook  the  World." 
Warden  Terrell  told  Debs  that  he  had  free  access  to 
the  prison  library.  ''We  have  a  rule  here,  Debs,"  said 
the  warden,  "that  prisoners  must  be  checked  up  on  the 
books  they  take  from  the  library,  but  we  will  waive  that 
rule  for  you.  I  know  you  appreciate  the  value  of  good 
books." 

"Indeed  I  do,  Mr.  Warden,"  replied  Debs  with  his 
thanks. 

Debs  said  he  had  "slept  like  a  log"  in  his  cell,  and 
now  felt  "as  chipper  as  a  young  goat  on  a  tin  roof." 
He  laughed  good-naturedly  as  he  looked  at  his  prison 
garments,  and  called  them  his  new  spring  suit.  Debs 
said  that  he  had  already  "met  some  fine  men  in  the 


THE  JOURNEY  TO  PRISON  77 

prison."  His  neighbor  in  the  next  cell  had  confided  to 
him  that  he  came  originally  from  McKees  Rocks,  Penn- 
sylvania, where  he  had  been  a  miner  and  a  Socialist, 
and  had  once  voted  for  Debs  for  President.  In  the 
yard,  during  his  morning  walk,  another  prisoner  had 
come  up  to  him  and  extended  his  hand. 

'^'"Well,  Mr.  Debs,  IVe  wanted  this  honor  to  meet 
you  all  my  life,  but,  by  God,  I'm  sorry  to  meet  you  in 
here,"  the  convict  had  said.  Debs  hastily  clasped  the 
man's  extended  hand  and  said,  *'As  well  meet  here  as 
anywhere ;  the  meeting  is  the  thing  that  counts,  not  the 
place."  All  day  Monday  two  Negro  prisoners  were 
busily  engaged  scrubbing  the  floors  of  the  room  that 
Debs  was  to  occupy,  fumigating  it,  and,  generally,  **  put- 
ting his  house  in  order."  One  of  these  men  was  called 
' '  Old  Nigger  Bill. ' '  He  instantly  attached  his  affections 
to  Debs.  This  darky  had  twice  escaped  execution  for 
murder,  and  had  since  been  offered  a  pardon  which  he 
had  declined  with  thanks,  having  no  home  and  no  where 
to  go. 

At  the  warden's  invitation  we  dined  with  him  and 
his  family  that  evening.  As  we  chatted  with  Debs's 
keeper  and  his  wife  in  their  private  apartments  on  the 
top  floor  of  the  prison,  the  warden's  little  girl,  Barbara 
Lee,  romped  and  played  on  the  floor.  Debs's  name  was 
mentioned  frequently,  and  finally  the  brown-eyed  baby 
looked  up  into  her  father's  eyes  and  asked:  ''Daddy, 
who  is  Debs?"  The  warden  gently  referred  the  child's 
inquiry  to  me.  With  a  bound  she  ran  over  to  me  and 
climbed  upon  my  lap.  I  had  been  playing  *  *  patty-cake, 
patty-cake,  baker's  man"  with  her. 

**Debs  is  a  good,  kind  man,"  I  told  her,  ''who  loves 
all  little  boys  and  girls.  And  all  little  boys  and  girls 
who  meet  him  come  to  love  him,  too.  If  he  were  up  here 
now  he  would  get  right  down  there  on  the  floor  and 
play  with  you."  The  little  girl  danced  off  my  lap  and 
ran  over  to  the  warden,  clapping  her  hands  with  glee. 


78      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

'  *  Oh,  Daddy ;  Mr.  Debs  is  a  kind  man  wlio  loves 
children,  and  he  plays  with  them,  too;  do  you  think  he 
will  ever  come  upstairs  and  play  with  me?"  There 
was  anxious  hope  in  the  baby's  voice  as  she 'put  her 
unanswerable  question.  None  of  us  knew  how  to  reply 
to  the  child  whose  imagination  had  been  gripped  by  the 
thought  of  a  possible  playmate. 

*'No,  I  don't  think  Mr.  Debs  will  ever  have  time  to 
come  up  and  play  with  you,  Barbara  Lee,"  said  her 
father  finally,  *'but  you  shall  see  him  some  day."  The 
little  girl  ran  back  to  me  as  though  I  could  somehow 
bring  into  being  the  thoughts  that  raced  through  her 
mind.  I  told  her  that  some  day,  when  she  had  grown  to 
be  a  big  girl,  she  might  be  glad  and  proud  that  she  had 
once  lived  in  the  same  house  with  Debs.  I  told  her  that 
many  of  his  friends  would  wish  they  could  say  they  had 
lived  under  the  same  roof  with  him.  She  looked  at  me 
wonderingly  with  big,  brown  eyes. 

During  the  meal  the  warden  impressed  upon  us  that 
he  had  received  no  instructions  from  any  one  to  show 
Debs  any  special  favor  or  consideration.  He  said  he  was 
merely  treating  his  prisoner  as  the  latter 's  age,  charac- 
ter and  intelligence  demanded. 


CHAPTER  lY 
TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON 

THERE  was  no  question  about  Debs  being  the  recip- 
ient of  special  favors  from  the  warden  at  Mounds- 
ville.  His  mail  was  unrestricted  and  untampered.  He 
never  took  the  full  advantage  of  favors  that  might  easily 
have  been  extended  to  him  by  Terrell.  For  instance, 
there  was  a  rule  in  the  prison  that  all  lights  must  be 
out  at  nine  o'clock  at  night.  Debs  had  a  room  which 
we  could  call  private.  None  shared  it  with  him  and  it 
contained  only  his  personal  property.  It  is  unlikely 
that  the  guards  in  the  prison  yards  would  have  raised 
objection  had  Debs  kept  his  light  burning  after  the 
forbidden  hour.  Most  of  them,  if  not  all,  were  aware 
that  Debs  was  the  most  celebrated  prisoner  the  prison 
had  ever  held,  and  all  of  them  came  to  respect  him,  both 
for  his  personal  evidences  of  kindness  within  the  prison 
walls,  and  for  what  they  knew  him  to  be  in  the  outside 
world.  Debs  promptly  turned  his  light  off  at  nine 
o'clock  each  night. 

It  is  customary,  I  am  told,  according  to  prison  regu- 
lations, for  officials  to  examine  carefully  all  papers  and 
magazines  and  books  before  they  are  turned  over  to 
the  prisoner.  This  is  done,  not  so  much  to  censor  the 
written  contents,  as  to  guard  against  the  smuggling  in 
of  drugs,  "sleep  powders,"  flat  files  or  saws  to  the 
prisoners.  Many  prisons  forbid  any  printed  matter 
coming  to  the  prisoners  except  that  sent  direct  from 
publishers.  Debs,  however,  received  vast  quantities  of 
printed  matter  of  every  radical  description,  about  fifty 
per  cent,  of  which  came  direct  from  his  friends.    Almost 

79 


80      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

from  the  first,  his  full  mail  was  turned  over  to  him  un- 
opened. It  reached  such  volume  that  he  could  easily 
have  used  a  private  secretary  in  prison.  Instead,  it 
was  his  custom  to  assort  his  mail  and  dispatch  the 
more  general  letters  to  his  brother,  Theodore,  in  Terre 
Haute,  who  would  answer  each  missive.  Visitors  came 
to  see  him  by  the  scores.  Within  two  short  months, 
Moundsville  became  the  mecca  for  the  nation's  radicals, 
liberals,  and  those  curiously  interested  in  celebrated  and 
public  personages.  At  one  time  a  delegation  of  fifty 
Socialists  marched  into  the  warden's  office  from  a  small 
Ohio  town  nearby  to  see  Debs.  Of  course,  this  vanguard 
was  denied  its  mission,  but  the  leader  of  the  group  was 
passed  through  the  prison  gates,  and  was  granted  a  brief 
interview  with  his  chief.  Debs  at  Moundsville  soon 
found  himself  in  the  position  of  trying  to  minimize  the 
favors  that  were  being  showered  upon  him  from  every 
hand.  It  was  his  deep  concern  not  to  incur  the  dislike 
or  enmity  of  his  fellow  prisoners  by  these  evidences  of 
official  partiality.  He  received  boxes  of  candy,  fruit, 
cigars,  smoking  tobacco  and  flowers  in  abundance ;  these 
he  distributed  among  the  patients  at  the  hospital  in 
which  he  was  supposed  to  be  a  clerk  to  the  chief  physi- 
cian. Never  in  all  his  days  had  ''Old  Nigger  Biir' 
smoked  so  many  and  such  good  cigars  as  those  he  relished 
with  ever-increasing  frequency  during  the  stay  of  Debs. 
Bill  loved  to  bathe  in  the  reflected  glory  of  'Gene,  and 
finally  came  to  look  upon  himself  as  Debs's  personal 
valet.  He  would  scrub  the  bathtub  to  a  fine  polish  each 
morning  before  Debs  took  his  plunge,  and  once  Debs 
remarked,  ''The  old  rascal  seems  to  think  he  is  filling 
the  tub  with  holy  water  for  a  prince  or  potentate." 

On  one  of  my  visits  to  Moundsville,  Warden  Terrell 
escorted  me  over  to  Debs's  room.  Debs  was  seated  at 
his  table  writing  letters.  He  instantly  arose  and  greeted 
his  keeper  kindly  as  though  Terrell  were  an  old  friend. 
For  some  minutes  both  men  chatted  in  clubby  fashion, 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLB  PRISON      81 

laughing  and  jesting.  It  seemed  that  Debs  quite  forgot 
that  he  was  the  prisoner,  and  Terrell  seemed  oblivious 
of  the  fact  that  it  was  he  who  had  finally  ordered  the 
barred  gates  closed  upon  Debs.  The  next  moment  Debs 
stooped  over  his  big  suit-case,  fished  out  a  fresh  box  of 
cigars,  and  offered  it  to  the  warden.  The  latter  hesitated 
and  Debs  took  up  a  handful  of  the  Havanas  and  thrust 
them  in  the  warden's  coat  pocket.  Terrell  protested 
that  he  had  a  box  of  cigars  of  his  own. 

''Well,  take  these  anyway,  Mr.  Warden,"  said  Debs, 
''they  were  sent  to  me  yesterday  by  one  of  the  sweetest 
comrades  I  ever  knew.** 

The  warden  smiled.  "Do  you  know,  Debs,'*  he  said 
in  mock-serious  tone,  "I  am  beginning  to  feel  the  least 
bit  jealous  of  you.  If  I  had  so  many  people  who  loved 
me  as  intensely  as  your  friends  love  you,  and  who  would 
say  such  nice  things  about  me  as  they  say  about  you, 
I  think  I  should  be  willing  to  be  a  prisoner  myself.** 
Debs  showed  the  slightest  trace  of  embarrassment. 

"Well,  Mr.  Warden,  if  you  are  ever  in  my  place  I  want 
to  be  your  warden  so  that  I  might  have  a  chance  to  treat 
you  as  kindly  as  you  have  treated  me,'*  said  Debs,  and 
both  men  laughed  at  the  incongruity  of  the  picture. 

"Oh,  Debs,  I'm  not  treating  you  kindly,**  argued  the 
warden ;  "  I  am  merely  treating  you  like  a  man.  *  * 

It  was  a  bright,  sunny  summer  *s  day,  and  more  than 
800  prisoners  were  scattered  about  on  the  spacious 
sward  of  the  prison.  Some  were  sitting  alone.  Others 
were  in  small  groups.  Many  of  them  were  smoking 
pipes,  cigars  and  tobacco.  But  for  the  monotonous  simi- 
larity of  their  clothing,  and  the  gray  stone  wall  that 
stretched  forty  feet  from  the  ground  and  inclosed  them, 
one  could  not  have  thought  of  these  men  as  prisoners, 
but  as  workmen  enjoying  a  half  holiday.  They  were, 
indeed,  enjoying  a  half  holiday,  for  Warden  Terrell  had 
ordered  all  work  suspended  at  noon  that  day,  Saturday. 
These  men  were  not  workmen,  though  they  had  once 


82     DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

been  such,  and  many  of  them  would  be  again.  Now 
they  were  all  convicts.  Bankers,  tellers,  burglars,  slay- 
ers, counterfeiters,  forgers — men  imprisoned  for  every 
conceivable  offense,  and  now  all  on  the  same  dead  level 
of  equality  in  the  eyes  of  the  state  and  of  society.  As 
"Warden  Terrell  passed  these  different  groups  of  men  not 
a  man  lowered  his  eyes.  Many  of  them  looked  straight 
at  their  keeper,  some  with  smiling  eyes  of  friendly  ac- 
knowledgment, some  with  blank  expressions,  some  whose 
faces  were  alight  with  hope  of  future  liberty,  while 
others  gazed  straight  ahead  at  the  great  gray  wall  as  if 
that  stone  panel  were  the  very  end  of  life  and  its  mys- 
teries. On  the  lawn,  the  prison  band  was  playing  popu- 
lar airs.  This  was  the  scene  that  met  Debs's  eyes  as  he 
looked  out  of  the  window,  brushing  aside  the  white  scrim 
curtains  that  hung  from  the  lower  half  of  the  sashes. 
Pinned  on  the  wall  by  the  side  of  his  bed  was  a  maga- 
zine print  of  Christ,  On  his  table,  a  rough  affair  of  the 
kitchen  variety,  painted  with  lead  gray  color,  were  nu- 
merous magazines  and  photographs  of  children  and 
friends  throughout  the  country.  These  had  been  sent 
to  him  since  his  incarceration.  On  the  radiator  there 
was  a  large  picture  of  a  little  girl,  the  daughter  of  a 
Socialist  in  Ohio.  Several  candy  boxes  containing  flow- 
ers plucked  in  open  fields  by  children  lay  on  a  chair. 
One  of  these  he  showed  to  me  and  the  letter  that  ac- 
companied it; 

457  West  151st  St., 

New  York  City,  N.  Y., 

May  27,  1919. 
Dear  Comrade  Debs: 

Just  a  few  lines  to  let  you  know  how  many  of  us 
still  love  you.  I  hope,  and  all  my  friends  hope,  that  the 
prison  bars  do  not  ruin  your  health.  Comrade,  you 
have  no  idea  how  bad  we  feel  about  you.  Isn't  it  awful 
that  you  must  stay  there?  It  is  very  noble  of  you  in- 
deed not  to  want  to  come  out  unless  your  fellow  workers 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      83 

come  out.  But  don't  you  worry,  all  will  turn  out  all 
right,  those  Conenscious  (conscientious)  Objectors  and 
other  fellow-workers  and  dear  Kate  O'Hare,  who  have 
worked  for  the  cause,  will  come  out.  Though  it  isn't 
pleasant  to  be  behind  bars,  it  must  feel  wonderful  to 
know  you  have  accomplished  a  great  deal  and  that  you 
are  behind  bars  for  a  very  good  cause. 

But  let's  not  talk  about  that.  Spring  is  just  as  beau- 
tiful, and  I  am  sending  you  a  Lily-of-the-Yalley  from 
our  garden.  I  hope  you  soon  will  be  able  to  enjoy  spring 
again.  Of  course  you  will,  and  when  you  do  I  certainly 
will  rejoice,  and  so  will  all  my  friends.  Don't  lose 
courage,  dear  Comrade,  remember  your  little  comrades 
still  love  you,  and  you  love  us,  that  we  know.  Just 
you  wait,  when  you  come  out  all  nature  will  rejoice  with 
you  and  all  who  love  you. 

Comrade,  remember  when  at  Carnegie  Hall  I  gave  you 
a  bunch  of  American  Beauties,  with  a  banner  with 
"Votes  for  Women"  on  it,  and  when  you  lifted  me  up 
and  kissed  me  that  thrill  went  through  me  I  shall  never 
forget.     To  be  kissed  by  such  a  wonderful  man.  .  .  . 

But  all  your  work  to  give  women  the  vote  was  not 
useless,  for  you  see  they  got  the  vote.  Also  your  work 
for  Socialism  will  not  be  useless.  The  working  class 
shall  soon  wake  up  and  realize.  I  am  now  just  eleven, 
and  when  I  grow  up  I  will  follow  your  footsteps.  I 
hope  I  and  all  my  fellow  comrades  will  be  able  to  enjoy 
your  nobl©  work. 

Yours  for  a  Wonderful  Cause, 
Your  Little  Comrade, 

Hazel  Klotz. 

To  this  little  girl 's  letter  Debs  replied  on  May  31 : 
My  dear  Comrade  Hazel: 

Your  very  dear  letter  with  the  Lily-of-the-Yalley  at- 
tached has  come  to  me  and  I  thank  you  with  all  my 
heart  for  your  loving  remembrance.  You  are  certainly 
a  true  little  friend  and  a  noble  young  comrade.  .  .  . 


84      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

I  note  all  you  say  and  your  sweet  message  touches 
me  deeply.  How  very  fortunate  I  am  to  have  the  con- 
fidence and  love  of  such  fine  comrades !  All  is  well  with 
me  here  and  in  good  time  everything  will  eome  out 
right.  Thanking  you  again,  my  dear  little  comrade, 
and  with  much  love  to  you  and  all  your  household  and 
other  comrades,  I  am  ever, 

Yours  devotedly, 

E.  V.  Debs. 

Referring  to  his  mail,  Dehs  said  letters  had  been  pour- 
ing in  upon  him  by  the  thousands.  On  Easter  Sunday 
he  received  a  dozen  boxes  of  flowers. 

*'I  want  to  say  that  if  I  had  to  come  to  prison,  I  am 
glad  I  came  here,  I  have  not  heard  an  unkind  word 
since  I  arrived,  and  every  official,  from  the  warden 
down,  has  been  kind  to  me  and  solicitous  about  my 
health,"  said  Debs.  The  matter  of  the  warden's  treat- 
ment to  him  is  further  attested  by  him  in  the  following 
letter  to  me: 

Moundsville,  W.  Va.,  April  22,  1919. 
My  dear  Comrade  David: 

A  thousand  thanks!  You  can  never  know  how  very 
much  I  appreciate  all  your  kindness.  Your  coming 
here  with  me  was  so  good  of  you,  and  the  many  fine 
things  you  have  said  and  written  in  your  splendid  ar- 
ticles will  abide  with  me  for  all  time. 

I  wish  you  could  have  been  here  long  enough  to  know 
the  warden,  Mr.  Terrell,  as  I  have  learned  to  know 
him.  He  occupies  a  very  trying  and  difficult  position 
and  my  being  here  under  the  circumstances  does  not 
make  things  easier  for  him.  He  has  certainly  treated 
me  as  well  as  he  possibly  can  under  the  rules  of  the 
prison  which,  as  you  know,  he  is  expected  to  enforce 
impartially,  and  there  are  not  a  few  who  would  be  glad 
to  see  him  subject  me  to  the  severest  discipline  and  set 
me  at  the  hardest  tasks.  Mr.  Terrell  has  had  all  regard 
for  my  health,  and  he  has  in  every  other  way  treated 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      85 

me  not  only  humanely  but  kindly,  and  I  am  sure  he 
has  the  welfare  of  all  the  prisoners  at  heart  and  does 
the  very  best  he  can  by  them  all.  But  after  all,  it's  a 
prison,  and  I  am  sure  there  are  many  thin^  he  would 
do  differently  if  he  were  free  to  carry  out  his  own  indi- 
vidual wishes.  Hundreds  of  letters,  telegrams,  etc.,  are 
coming  here.  I  could  not  begin  to  answer  them  all  even 
if  it  were  not  for  the  prison  rules.  I  appreciate  each 
loving  word — each  touch  of  comradely  kindness. 
Believe  me  always,  always. 
Yours  in  loving  comradeship. 

Gene. 

P.S. — Tell  the  comrades  they  must  not  worry  about 
me  in  the  least.  I  am  all  right.  There  is  nothing  to 
regret,  nothing  to  fear — there  is  everything  to  hope  for, 
and  to  live  and  work  for. 

On  Easter  Sunday  he  went  to  the  chapel  services. 

"I  sat  in  the  middle  of  all  the  prisoners,"  said  'Gene. 
''It  was  a  wonderful  sight.  In  the  very  midst  of  all 
their  sorrows  and  their  miseries  there  was  a  wonderful 
spirit  that  shone  in  the  faces  of  all  the  prisoners.  I 
would  not  have  missed  this  experience  for  anything  in 
the  world.  It  means  so  much  to  me.  It  has  enriched 
my  life.  Why,  I  have  callers  every  day.  These  men, 
scores  of  them,  come  to  my  room  and  ask  me  to  write 
letters  for  them,  letters  to  their  families  and  applica- 
tions for  pardons.  They  all  seem  to  have  discovered  me. 
They  tell  me  their  stories  and  their  hopes  for  the 
future." 

Debs  spoke  of  Archdeacon  Spurr  of  the  Reynolds 
Memorial  Hospital,  near  Moundsville,  who  had  paid 
him  frequent  visits. 

''The  deacon  brought  me  this  tie  that  I  am  wearing, 
and  asked  me  if  I  needed  any  money  for  my  family! 
What  do  you  think  of  that?  If  there  was  as  much 
kindness  and  good  feeling  on  the  outside  world  as  I  have 
seen  within  these  walls  all  would  be  well  with  the 


86      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

world/'  he  said.  Debs's  tie  was  dark  blue,  of  the  flow- 
ing variety.  ''The  deacon  is  not  a  bit  'churchy/  just 
a  fine  human  being  with  a  great  heart/'  Debs  volun- 
teered. At  the  end  of  this  visit,  April  28,  I  mentioned 
that  I  might  have  time  to  stop  at  Altoona,  Pennsylvania, 
to  see  William  P.  Gable,  whom  I  knew  to  be  a  man 
of  generous  heart,  and  for  many  years  a  warm  admirer 
of  Debs;  that  I  would  go  west  and  try  to  see  Mrs. 
O'Hare  at  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  prison,  and  to 
Leavenworth,  Kansas,  prison  to  see  William  D.  Hay- 
wood. Debs's  face  lit  up  at  once  at  the  mention  of 
these  names. 

**Be  sure  you  give  Gable  my  love,"  he  said.  "His 
is  one  of  the  sweetest  natures  I  ever  knew — an  exceed- 
ingly good  and  generous  man.  When  you  get  to  Leav- 
enworth take  my  love  to  Bill  Haywood  and  the  other 
boys.  We  are  all  in  prison  for  the  same  thing — at- 
tempting to  be  true  to  ourselves  and  those  whom  we 
serve.  In  the  final  sum  we  all  stand  together — I.  W.  W. 
and  all — the  world's  workers. 

"If  you  are  allowed  to  see  Kate,  tell  her  I  am  keep- 
ing the  light  burning  in  West  Virginia  as  I  know  she 
is  doing  in  Missouri.  Her  case  was  harder  than  mine. 
She  left  four  beautiful  children  behind  when  they  took 
her  off  to  prison.  I  had  no  little  children  of  my  own 
to  leave — I  just  left  all  the  children  behind."  There 
was  a  strain  of  infinite  tenderness  and  sadness  in  his 
voice  as  he  spoke  the  last,  and  his  whole  frame  was 
vibrant  with  the  love  that  flooded  his  heart  and  moist- 
ened his  pale  blue  eyes. 

On  my  second  visit,  June  7,  Debs  talked  of  prisoners, 
the  prison  problem  and  John  Brown,  the  martyred 
abolitionist  of  Civil  War  days. 

"I  have  been  in  many  jails  and  prisons,  and  have 
seen  numberless  criminals,  old  and  young,  male  and 
female,  and  of  every  hue  and  shade,  and  my  heart 
is  with  them  all.     I   cannot  pity  them  without  con- 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      87 

demning  myself.  But  I  can  love  them,  and  I  do.  I 
love  them  for  what  they  are,  foul  and  repulsive  as  they 
may  appear  to  those  whose  cry  of  'unclean'  but  mocks 
the  dead  sense  of  their  own  guilt  and  shame. 

*'Many  an  innocent  soul,''  he  went  on,  raising  his 
voice,  '*  branded  with  crime,  is  vainly  beating  its  tired 
wings  against  the  steel  bars  of  a  prison  cage.  But  the 
guilty !  Who  shall  dare  to  judge  them  ?  What  sinless, 
spotless  saint  among  us  may  pronounce  them  wicked 
and  sentence  them  to  prison?  The  very  lowest  and 
most  degenerate  of  criminals  is  not  a  whit  worse  than 
I.  The  difference  between  us  is  against  me,  not  him. 
All  of  my  life  I  have  been  the  favored  one,  the  creature 
of  fortune.  We  both  did  the  best  we  could,  and  the 
worst  we  knew  how,  and  I  am  the  beneficiary  of  society 
of  which  he  is  the  victim. ' '  The  last  remark  caused  me 
to  remind  Debs  that  he  was  not  now  **the  favored 
creature"  of  society,  but  rather  its  banished  benefactor. 

**No,  that  is  not  exactly  correct,"  he  replied  at  once. 
"I  am  so  much  more  fortunate  than  those  who  are  now 
sharing  my  lot  with  me.  My  thoughts  are  not  in  this 
place ;  I  do  not  see  these  gray  walls,  nor  am  I  conscious 
of  these  steel  bars.  Only  my  clay  is  here,  and  that 
might  just  as  well  be  here  as  anywhere  else.  I  can  live 
here  with  my  soul  at  peace ;  I  can  live  on  the  increment 
of  the  love  of  my  comrades  and  friends  in  the  world 
outside  these  walls.  But  these  men — and  I  know  many 
of  them  by  their  first  names  now — were  once  workmen. 
For  the  most  part  they  have  been  used  and  exploited. 
When  they  had  nothing  more  to  give,  had  given  their 
all — soul  and  body — and  strove  at  last  to  make  the  best 
of  a  bad  bargain  and  erred,  society  then  put  them  out 
of  sight.  They  were  no  good  any  longer.  They  could 
not  be  used  any  longer.  Put  them  away!  They  are 
unclean ! 

''Think  of  the  monstrous  crime  of  punishing  the 
brother  we  have  deformed  for  the  wrong  he  has  suf- 


88      DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

fered  at  our  hands!  Think  of  torturing  his  body  and 
deforming  his  soul  for  having  had  the  awful  misfortune 
to  be  the  dehumanized  victim  of  our  own  inhumanity. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  in  a  perverted,  wicked  system 
the  basest  passions  are  aroused,  hate  and  lust  fill  the 
world,  and  fire  and  slaughter  ravage  the  race?" 

Rarely  before  had  his  eyes  betokened  firmer  conviction 
than  when  he  said  now: 

**I  belong  in  prison.  I  belong  where  men  are  made 
to  suffer  for  the  wrongs  committed  against  them  by  a 
brutalizing  system.  I  have  talked  about  this  thing  and 
these  social  conditions  all  of  my  life,  and  now  the  fates 
have  given  to  me  the  opportunity  to  practice  what  I 
have  preached. 

*'I  belong  to  this  stratum  of  society,'*  he  repeated 
with  signal  emphasis.  ''The  roots  of  the  social  system 
are  here.    They  are  nowhere  else. 

'*I  would  not  harm  a  hair  in  the  head  of  any  human 
being  on  earth,"  he  went  on,  with  rising  fire  and  re- 
newed force,  ''but  before  I  pass  beyond  I  would  like 
to  have  all  the  plutocrats,  the  profiteers,  the  exploiters 
of  labor  and  their  mistresses  in  their  satins  and  their 
jewels — all  those  who  believe  this  is  a  just  social  system 
and  who  support  it — to  sit  in  a  great  grandstand,  and 
I  would  then  parade  before  their  seeing  eyes  this  pageant 
of  misery — the  criminals,  the  sick,  the  halt  and  the 
blind.  I  think  that  any  man  or  woman  who  could  wit- 
ness such  a  spectacle  without  feeling  his  and  her  just 
share  of  social  responsibility  for  it  all  must  surely  have 
hearts  of  granite,  and  have  become  as  gross  and  as 
dehumanized  as  they  make  out  these  poor  souls  to  be." 
Debs 's  eyes  wandered  toward  the  window  whose  curtains 
were  gently  blowing  in  the  June  breeze,  and  he  saw 
precisely  the  very  same  creatures  about  whom  he  had 
just  been  speaking  so  vehemently.  At  this  moment  the 
prison  band  struck  up  "Maryland,  My  Maryland." 
Long  ago  the  Socialists  had  parodized  the  words  and 


,  TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      89 

entitled  them  ''We'll  Keep  the  Red  Flag  Waving." 
Debs  noted  the  significance  of  the  music.  There  was 
flare  and  fire  in  the  swelling  notes  that  flew  high 
over  the  prison  walls  just  like  the  hopes  of  some  of 
the  men  who  dotted  the  green  sward  here  and  there 
within  the  inclosure. 

"Of  course,  it  is  fine  and  thrilling  to  be  in  the  outside 
world  mingling  with  noble  spirits  and  kindly  souls 
who  illuminate  the  earth  with  the  fight  of  their  generous 
love,  but  some  must  be  in  places  like  this,  else  how  could 
we  differentiate  between  light  and  darkness?  And  I 
am  as  pleased  to  be  here  as  any.'' 

Maybe  a  few  among  those  who  know  Debs  have  some- 
times thought  that  the  stone  walls,  the  steel  bars  and  the 
locks  would  harden  his  heart,  tame  the  currents  that 
sweep  his  mind  and  weaken  his  spirit.  Men  have  been 
broken  in  chains  and  in  other  forms  of  restraint.  They 
have  become  sullen  and  dead  to  all  save  the  physical  life 
under  the  pressure  of  prison.  But  Debs  says  that  many 
of  these  were  of  broken  or  wavering  spirit  before  they 
were  fettered  and  striped,  and  when  the  last  straw  in 
the  form  of  a  cell  was  weighted  upon  them  they  were 
left  stranded,  suspended  between  the  spiritual  and  phys- 
ical eqtiations,  jvith  little  or  no  conception  of  the  re- 
storative power  of  the  former,  and  with  but  a  sickening, 
haunting  memory  of  the  latter.  More  than  once  Debs 
has  said  he  could  go  to  the  stake  without  batting  an 
eye  and  with  song  in  his  heart,  if  he  knew  he  was  right. 
That  is  actually  the  manner  in  which  he  entered  prison 
three  times  in  his  life — Woodstock,  Moundsville  and 
Atlanta.  His  spirit  is  adamant.  It  has  and  will  sustain 
him  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

While  Debs  talked  rapidly  and  earnestly  of  the  prison 
problem,  I  remembered  having  read  his  speech  on 
that  very  subject,  delivered  before  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury Club,  at  Delmonico's,  New  York,  March  21,  1899. 


90      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

I   shall    quote    certain    pregnant    passages    from    that 
speech : 

*  *  From  the  earliest  ages  there  has  been  a  prison  prob- 
lem. The  ancients  had  their  bastiles  and  their  dungeons. 
Most  of  the  pioneers  of  progress,  the  haters  of  oppres- 
sion, the  lovers  of  liberty,  whose  names  now  glorify 
the  pantheon  of  the  world,  made  such  institutions  a 
necessity  in  their  day.  But  civilization  advances,  how- 
ever slowly,  and  there  has  been  some  progress.  It  re- 
quired five  hundred  years  to  travel  from  the  inquisition 
to  the  injunction. 

'  *  In  the  earlier  days  punishment  was  the  sole  purpose 
of  imprisonment.  Offenders  against  the  ruling  class 
must  pay  the  penalty  in  prison  cell,  which,  not  infre- 
quently, was  equipped  with  instruments  of  torture. 
With  the  civilizing  process  came  the  idea  of  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  culprit,  and  this  idea  prompts  every  investi- 
gation made  of  the  latter-day  problem.  The  inmates 
must  be  set  to  work  for  their  own  good,  no  less  than 
for  the  good  of  the  state. 

*'It  was  at  this  point  that  the  convict  labor  problem 
began  and  it  has  steadily  expanded  from  that  time 
to  this  and  while  there  has  been  some  temporary  modi- 
fications of  the  evil,  it  is  still  an  unnjitigated  curse 
from  which  there  can  be  no  escape  while  an  economic 
system  endures  in  which  labor,  that  is  to  say,  the  laborer, 
man,  woman  and  child,  is  sold  to  the  lowest  bidder  in 
the  markets  of  the  world.  ... 

''Fortunately  the  system  of  leasing  and  contracting 
prison  labor  for  private  exploitation  is  being  exposed 
and  its  frightful  iniquities  laid  bare.  Thanks  to  or- 
ganized labor  and  the  spirit  of  prison  reform,  this  hor- 
rifying phase  of  the  evil  is  doomed  to  disappear  before 
an  enlightened  public  sentiment.  .  .  . 

' '  All  useful  labor  is  honest  labor,  even  if  performed  in 
a  prison.  Only  the  labor  of  exploiters,  such  as  specula- 
tors, stock  gamblers,  beef-embalmers  and  their  mercen- 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PEISON      91 

ary  politicians,  lawyers  and  other  parisites — only  such 
is  dishonest  labor.  A  thief  making  shoes  in  a  peniten- 
tiary is  engaged  in  more  useful  and  therefore  more 
honest  labor  than  a  *'*free'*  stone  mason  at  work  on  a 
palace  whose  foundations  are  laid  in  the  skulls  and 
bones  and  cemented  in  the  sweat  and  blood  of  ten 
thousand  victims  of  capitalistic  exploitation.  In  both 
cases  the  labor  is  compulsory.  The  stone  mason  would 
not  work  for  the  trust  magnate  were  he  not  compelled 
to.  .  .  . 

*'To  the  student  of  social  science  the  haggard  fact 
stands  forth  that  under  the  competitive  system  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution  the  prison  problem  will  never 
be  solved — and  its  effect  upon  trade  and  industry  will 
never  be  greatly  modified.  The  fact  will  remain  that 
whatever  labor  is  performed  by  prison  labor  could  and 
should  be  performed  by  free  labor,  and  when  in  the 
march  of  economic  progress  the  capitalist  system  of 
industry  for  private  profit  succumbs  to  the  Socialist 
system  of  industry  for  human  happiness,  when  the  fac- 
tory, which  is  now  a  penitentiary  crowded  with  life 
convicts,  among  whom  children  often  constitute  the  ma- 
jority— when  this  factory  is  transformed  into  a  temple 
of  science,  and  the  machine,  myriad  armed  and  tireless, 
is  the  only  slave,  there  will  be  no  prison  labor  and  the 
problem  will  cease  to  vex  the  world,  and  to  this  it  is 
coming  in  obedience  to  the  economic  law,  as  unerring  in 
its  operation  as  the  law  of  gravitation. 

''That  prison  labor  is  demoralizing  in  its  effect  on 
trade  and  industry  whenever  and  wherever  brought  into 
competition  with  it,  especially  under  the  various  forms 
of  the  contract  system,  is  of  course  conceded,  but  that 
it  has  been,  or  is  at  present,  a  great  factor  in  such  de- 
moralization is  not  admitted.  There  is  a  tendency  to 
exaggerate  the  blighting  effect  of  prison  labor  for  the 
purpose  of  obscuring  the  one  overshadowing  cause  of 
demoralized  trade  and  impoverished  industry. 


92      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

*' Prison  labor  did  not  reduce  the  miner  to  a  waUdng 
hunger  pang,  his  wife  to  a  tear-stained  rag,  and  his  home 
to  a  lair.  Prison  labor  is  not  responsible  for  the  squares 
of  squalor  and  miles  of  misery  in  New  York  City,  Chi- 
cago and  all  other  centers  of  population.  Prison  labor 
is  not  chargeable  with  the  sweating  dens  in  which  the 
victims  of  capitalistic  competition  crouch  in  dread  and 
fear  until  death  comes  to  their  rescue.  Prison  labor  had 
no  hand  in  Coeur  d  *Alene,  Tennessee,  Homestead,  Hazle- 
ton,  Virdin,  Pana,  that  suburb  of  hell  called  Pullman, 
and  other  insanguine  industrial  battlefields  where  thou- 
sands of  workingmen  after  being  oppressed  and  robbed 
were  imprisoned  life-felons,  and  shot  down  like  vaga- 
bond dogs;  where  venal  judges  issued  infamous  injunc- 
tions and  despotic  orders  at  the  behest  of  their  masters, 
enforcing  them  with  deputy  marshals  armed  with  pis- 
tols and  clubs  and  supported  by  troops  with  gleaming 
bayonets  and  shotted  guns  to  drain  the  veins  of  work- 
ingmen of  blood,  but  for  whose  labor  this  continent 
would  still  be  a  wilderness.  Only  the  tortures  of  hun- 
ger and  nakedness  provoked  protest,  and  this  was  si- 
lenced by  the  bayonet  and  bullet;  by  the  club  and  the 
blood  that  followed  the  blow. 

"Prison  labor  is  not  accountable  for  the  appalling 
increase  in  insanity,  in  suicide,  in  murder,  in  prostitu- 
tion and  a  thousand  other  forms  of  vice  and  crime  which 
pollute  every  fountain  and  contaminate  every  stream 
designed  to  bless  the  world. 

''Prison  labor  did  not  create  our  army  of  unem- 
ployed, but  has  been  recruited  from  its  ranks,  and  both 
owe  their  existence  to  the  same  social  and  economic 
system. 

*'Nor  are  the  evil  effects  confined  exclusively  to  the 
poor  working  class.  There  is  an  aspect  of  the  case 
in  which  the  rich  are  as  unfortunate  as  the  poor.  The 
destiny  of  the  capitalist  class  is  irrevocably  linked  with 
the  working  class.     Fichte,  the  great  German  philoso- 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUISTDSVILLB  PRISON      93 

pher,  said:  *  Wickedness  increases  in  proportion  to  the 
elevation  of  rank. ' 

**  Prison  labor  is  but  one  of  the  manifestations  of  our 
economic  development  and  indicates  its  trend.  The 
same  cause  that  demoralized  industry  has  crowded  our 
prisons.  Industry  has  not  been  impoverished  by  prison 
labor,  but  prison  labor  is  the  result  of  impoverished 
industry.  .  .  . 

*'The  prison  laborer  produces  by  machinery  in  abun- 
dance but  does  not  consume.  The  child  likewise  produces, 
but  owing  to  its  small  wages,  does  not  consume.  So 
with  the  vast  army  of  workers  whose  wage  grows  smaller 
as  the  productive  capacity  of  labor  increases,  and  then 
society  is  afflicted  with  over-production,  the  result  of 
under-consumption.  What  follows?  The  panic.  Fac- 
tories close  down,  wage  workers  are  idle  and  suffer, 
middle  class  business  men  are  forced  into  bankruptcy, 
the  army  of  tramps  is  increased,  vice  and  crime  are  ram- 
pant, and  prisons  and  workhouses  are  filled  to  overflow- 
ing as  are  sewers  when  the  streets  of  cities  are  deluged 
with  floods. 

*  *  Prison  labor,  like  all  cheap  labor,  is  at  first  a  source 
of  profit  to  the  capitalist,  but  finally  it  turns  into  a 
two-edged  sword  that  cuts  into  and  destroys  the  system 
that  produced  it.  .  .  . 

"There  is  proverb  which  the  Latin  race  sent  ringing 
down  the  centuries  which  reads,  'Orrvma  Vinoit  Amor/ 
or  'Love  conquers  all  things.'  Love  and  labor  in  al- 
liance, working  together,  have  transforming,  redeeming 
and  emancipating  power.  Under  their  benign  sway  the 
world  can  be  made  better  and  brighter. 

"Isaiah  saw  in  prophetic  vision  a  time  when  nations 
should  war  no  more — ^when  swords  should  be  trans- 
formed into  plowshares,  and  spears  into  pruning  hooks. 
The  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  only  awaits  an  era  when 
Love  and  Labor,  in  holy  alliance,  shall  solve  the  economic 
problem.  .  .  . 


94      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

"The  army  of  begging  Lazaruses,  with  the  dogs  lick- 
ing their  sores  at  the  gates  of  palaces  where  the  rich  are 
clothed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  with  their  tables  groan- 
ing beneath  the  luxuries  of  all  climes,  make  the  palaces 
on  the  highland  where  fashion  holds  sway  and  music 
lends  its  charms,  a  picture  in  the  landscape  which,  in 
illustrating  disparity,  brings  into  bolder  relief  the  hut 
and  the  hovel  in  the  hollow  where  want,  gaunt  and  hag- 
gard, sits  at  the  door  and  where  light  and  plenty,  cheer- 
fulness and  hope  are  forever  exiled  by  the  despotic  de- 
cree of  conditions  as  cruel  as  when  the  Czar  of  Russia 
ordered  to  his  penal  mines  in  Siberia  the  hapless  sub- 
jects who  dared  whisper  the  sacred  word  of  liberty — as 
cruel  as  when  this  boasted  land  of  freedom  commands 
that  a  far  away,  innocent  people  shall  be  shot  down  in 
jungle  and  lagoon,  in  their  bamboo  huts,  because  they 
dream  of  freedom  and  independence/' 

Sixty  years  ago — in  1859 — ^John  Brown,  of  Kansas, 
was  hung  by  the  neck  at  Charlestown,  Virginia,  that 
portion  of  the  state  which  is  now  West  Virginia,  be- 
cause he  carried  the  black  man^s  burden  in  his  heart. 
He  was  executed  for  having  attempted  to  free  the 
chattel  slaves  from  bondage  by  his  raid  on  Harper's 
Ferry,  but  the  slaves  either  did  not  wish  to  be  free,  or 
else  were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  measure  of  freedom 
that  would  have  been  theirs  had  John  Brown  and  the 
other  abolitionists  of  that  period  accomplished  their 
purpose,  which  was  ultimately  tried  and  vindicated  a 
few  years  later  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  Of  course, 
it  was  merely  a  coincident  that  Eugene  Victor  Debs  was 
originally  sentenced  to  serve  his  term  of  ten  years  in 
prison  in  West  Virginia,  the  same  state  in  which  Brown 
paid  the  full  pound  of  flesh  for  his  devotion  to  a  prin- 
ciple. In  prison,  in  the  year  1919,  in  the  moment  of 
the  most  widespread  propaganda  and  preachments  for 
world-wide  liberty  and  democracy,  I  spoke  with  Debs 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      95 

about  John  Brown,  whose  martyred  memory  is  dear  to 
him,  and  which  he  passionately  reveres. 

''Many  years  ago,"  Debs  said,  "I  went  over  every 
foot  of  ground  trod  by  John  Brown  and  his  men — at 
Harper's  Ferry,  across  the  bridge,  and  the  nine-mile 
stretch  to  Charlestown.  I  went  through  the  jail  where 
Brown  lay  for  days  preceding  his  execution. 

*'I  have  the  candle,"  he  went  on,  "which  Brown 
used  to  light  up  his  cell  at  Charlestown.  But  John 
Brown  did  not  need  the  light  of  a  candle  to  light  up  his 
cell;  the  white  light  of  his  soul  was  quite  sufficient." 
Debs  also  treasures  a  button  from  Brown's  coat  which, 
he  says,  has  been  properly  authenticated. 

In  some  respects  Debs  and  Brown  are  similiar  in 
their  principles,  and  the  impassioned  manner  in  which 
both  sought  to  bring  them  into  effect.  The  dissimilarity 
of  the  two  men  appears,  however,  in  their  methods  of 
procedure,  their  tactics.  It  has  been  said  that  were 
Brown  alive  in  our  time  he  would  have  enlisted  his 
energies  in  the  cause  of  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World — his  mind  seeming  to  have  taken  the  turn  of 
''direct  action,"  as  proved  by  his  fearless,  yet  fool- 
hardy raid  upon  Harper's  Ferry  with  a  beggardly 
handful  of  followers  pitted  against  the  entire  South.  On 
the  other  hand.  Debs  is  no  less  zealous,  nor  less  fearless, 
but  his  appeal  has  been  made  not  to  unthinking  mobs, 
who  could  be  swayed  by  their  emotions,  but  to  the  in- 
telligent and  thinking  working  class ;  his  appeal  is  made 
to  their  reason,  not  to  their  emotions,  despite  the  fact 
that  Debs  himself  is  highly  emotional,  and  his  speeches 
do  assume  the  character  and  tone  of  an  agitator,  a  cru- 
sader. 

That  both  men  believed  their  cause  was  just  and  pur- 
sued it  unflinchingly  in  the  face  of  extreme  adversity 
is  further  attested  by  passages  from  their  speeches  to 
the  court  before  sentence  was  pronounced  upon  them. 
Brown  said : 


96      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

''In  the  first  place,  I  deny  everything  but  what  I- 
have  all  along  admitted — the  design  on  my  part  to  free 
the  slaves.  I  certainly  intended  to  have  made  a  clean 
thing  of  that  matter,  as  I  did  last  winter,  when  I  went 
into  Missouri  and  took  slaves  without  the  snapping  of 
a  gun  on  either  side,  moved  them  through  the  country 
and,  finally,  left  them  in  Canada.  I  designed  to  have 
done  the  same  thing  again,  on  a  larger  scale.  That  was 
all  I  intended." 

Debs  said: 

*'Yes,  I  was  opposed  to  war.  I  would  have  been  op- 
posed to  war  if  I  stood  alone.  I  am  perfectly  willing,  on 
that  count,  to  be  branded  as  a  disloyalist,  and  if  it  is 
a  crime  under  the  American  laws,  punishable  by  im- 
prisonment, for  being  opposed  to  human  bloodshed,  I 
am  perfectly  willing  to  be  clothed  in  the  stripes  of  a 
felon  and  to  end  my  days  in  a  prison  cell." 

While  John  Brown  was  riding  to  his  execution  in  a 
large  furniture  wagon  drawn  by  two  white  horses,  and 
which  also  contained  his  coffin,  he  remarked : 

"What  a  beautiful  country  this  is.  I  have  never 
been  down  this  way  before." 

On  his  ride  in  a  trolley  car  down  the  Ohio  Valley 
from  Cleveland  to  Moundsville,  Debs  said: 

* '  What  a  beautiful  day  it  is.  I  have  been  all  over  this 
part  of  the  country  and  have  talked  to  thousands  of 
these  miners." 

At  one  point  in  the  John  Brown  talk  Debs  remarked 
that  while  Brown  was  lying  in  his  cell  at  Charlestown 
an  old  Negro  slave  pleaded  on  his  bended  knees  to  his 
master  for  the  privilege  of  taking  an  ax  and  going  into 
Brown's  cell  and  braining  him. 

**That  was  his  way  of  attesting  his  loyalty  to  his 
master  who  held  him  in  bondage,  body  and  soul.  That 
was  his  way  of  proving  his  slavishness  and  abject  ser- 
vility. 

**  There  are  to-day  workmen  with  minds  that  run  in 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PRISON      97 

the  same  groove  as  their  master's,  and  doubtless,  some 
of  them  would  attest  their  slavishness  and  devotion  to 
their  industrial  masters  by  doing  the  same  thing  to 
other  John  Browns/' 

Once  during  his  trip  to  Moundsville,  Debs  remarked : 

**Were  I  to  engage  in  satire,  I  would  say  how  ironical 
it  seems  that  I,  who  have  been  forty  years  in  the  service 
of  organized  labor  am  now  being  taken  to  prison  by 
union  men."  Just  before  this  remark  was  passed  a 
conductor  had  come  through  the  car  to  collect  fares 
and  on  the  lapel  of  his  coat  was  his  union  button. 

Not  only  was  Debs  taken  to  prison  without  any  or- 
ganized opposition  from  the  American  labor  movement, 
but  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  at  its  1919  con- 
vention at  Atlantic  City,  did  nothing  to  obtain  his  re- 
lease; neither  did  it  ask  for  the  release  by  amnesty  of 
any  political  and  industrial  prisoners  convicted  and 
sentenced  under  a  war-time  statute — the  Espionage  Law. 
Despite  this  gross  neglect  of  Debs,  there  were  a  number 
of  bodies  within  that  organization  in  several  parts  of 
the  country  who  espoused  his  cause  and  petitioned  for 
his  release. 

The  Chicago  Federation  of  Labor,  embracing  a  quar- 
ter of  a  million  organized  workers,  for  instance,  adopted 
the  following  resolution  after  the  major  body  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  had  adjourned: 

''Whereas,  Eugene  V.  Debs  has  devoted  the  larger 
part  of  his  life  to  the  working  class  in  its  struggle  for 
better  conditions;  and 

''Whereas,  he  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  ten 
years  imprisonment  as  a  result  of  war-time  passion,  the 
war  now  being  ended,  the  Chicago  Federation  of  Labor 
insisting  upon  restoring  pre-war  liberties,  urge  the  im- 
mediate release  of  Eugene  V.  Debs  and  urge  that  reso- 
lutions to  this  effect  be  adopted  by  all  labor  bodies  and 
upon  adoption  that  a  copy  be  sent  to  the  President  of 
the   United   States,   the   Senators  of   the  state  where 


98      DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

adopted  and  the  congressmen  of  the  district  wherein 
the  resolution  is  adopted.'* 

It  cannot  be  said  that  there  has  existed  friendliness 
between  Debs  and  the  executive  and  administrative  offi- 
cials of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  has  attacked  them  unsparingly  in  the  Socialist 
press,  for  what  he  has  construed  as  being  their  reaction- 
ary tendencies  not  only  in  the  affairs  of  their  own 
organization,  but  in  their  policies  and  attitude  toward 
matters  of  public  import.  In  a  word,  Debs  is  revolu- 
tionary, while  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  offi- 
cially, he  claims,  has  not  yet  reached  even  the  rebel 
stage. 

Debs's  affections  as  a  labor  leader  are  more  attached 
to  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World,  in  the  crea- 
tion of  which  organization  he  played  no  little  part. 

When  our  conversation  had  departed  from  the  subject 
of  John  Brown,  Debs  inquired  about  the  welfare  and 
whereabouts  of  several  persons  with  whom  his  name  and 
his  affections  have  been  connected  for  many  years.  Es- 
pecially mentioned  among  these  was  Horace  Traubel, 
who  had  been  extremely  ill,  and  who  died  September  8th, 
1919. 

Follows  one  of  Debs's  letters  written  in  prison  to 
Traubel : 

Moundsville,  W.  Va.,  April  25,  1919. 
My  beloved  Horace: 

Your  beautiful  messages,  with  you  and  your  wonderful 
love  in  each  word,  are  with  me  and  my  heart  sings  in 
love  and  gratitude.  You  have  been  with  me  every  hour 
and  every  moment  since  I  've  been  here,  and  I  've  pressed 
you  so  close  to  my  heart  that  I've  forgotten  all  about 
prison  walls. 

Dear  Dave  Karsner,  who  so  loves  us  both  and  who  is 
equally  dear  to  me,  told  me  all  about  you.  I  'm  so  sorry 
you  're  not  well.  You  simply  must  come  back  to  yourself 
and  to  me  for  we  need  you  now,  dear  brother,  as  never 


TWO  MONTHS  AT  MOUNDSVILLE  PKISON      99 

before.  I  wish  you  knew  how  immortally  great  you  are, 
what  an  incomparable  contribution  you  have  made  to 
humanity,  and  how  very  necessary  you  are  now  to  the 
world. 

I  have  a  truly  wonderful  letter  from  our  dear  Mildred 
Bain — a  prose-poem — of  love  and  devotion  in  all  its 
beauty  and  perfection.  What  a  rare  courageous,  lofty 
soul  she  is,  and  how  rich  you  are  in  her  noble  appre- 
ciation, and  how  indebted  to  you  I  am  for  sharing  in 
her  precious  confidence  and  regard.  I  remember  the 
liappy  hour  we  had  with  her  splendid  husband,  Frank, 
and  some  good  day  I  hope  to  have  the  joy  of  meeting 
these  loving  souls. 

My  writing  is  limited  under  the  prison  rules.  You 
understand  that  my  messages  go  to  you  daily  without 
the  written  page  and  that  my  heart  is  and  always  will 
be  with  you. 

I  am  well  cared  for  here  in  every  way,  so  give  yourself 
no  concern  about  me.  I  have  everything  I  need  and  a 
perfectly  humane  Warden  who  is  as  good  to  me  as  the 
rules  will  allow — I  'm  here  for  a  purpose  and  I  know  how 
to  be  patient.  The  lessons  I  am  learning  here  are  of 
inestimable  value  to  me  and  I  am  not  sorry  that  my 
lot  is  cast  for  a  time  among  "Les  Miserables." 

With  my  heart's  enduring  love  to  you  and  dear  Mrs. 
TraUbel  and  Gertrude  and  her  husband,  I  am 
Yours  until  the  stars  go  out, 

Gene. 

As  we  shook  hands  in  parting,  I  realized  that  Debs 
was  not  conscious  of  me  as  an  individual;  and  as  he 
looked  into  my  eyes  I  knew  that  his  vision,  as  always, 
vaulted  all  walls  and  mountains,  and  bridged  all  rivers 
and  horizons;  he  was  looking,  as  always,  far  beyond 
the  immediate  person,  and  was  clasping  the  hand  of  the 
miner,  the  trench  digger,  the  locomotive  fireman,  the 
carpenter,  the  bricklayer,  the  mason,  the  mechanic — the 
artisan  everywhere ;  his  love  was  smiling  upon  the  half- 


100    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

starved  and  stunted  shop  worker,  the  little  children  bent 
in  arduous  toil  at  the  looms  in  the  southland ;  the  breaker 
boys  in  the  mines,  the  teachers,  the  organizers,  and  the 
Jimmie  and  Jane  Higginses — ^he  was  bestowing  his  bene- 
diction upon  the  people  who  toil  everywhere.  Myself, 
each  person  he  spoke  to,  was  only  the  reprenentative  of 
all  men  and  women  to  him. 


CHAPTER  Y 
TRANSFERRED  TO  ATLANTA 

IT  was  a  day  of  mourning  among  the  prisoners  at 
Moundsville  when  Debs  was  transferred  to  Atlanta. 
On  the  morning  of  June  13,  1919,  after  Debs  had  had 
his  breakfast,  Warden  Terrell  came  to  his  room  in  the 
prison  hospital  and  told  him  that  he  was  to  pack  his 
things  at  once  and  take  the  trip  to  Atlanta  prison.  He 
was  given  one  hour  to  get  ready.  The  warden  stated 
afterward  that  when  he  first  told  Debs  the  latter  had 
appeared  startled,  and  then  slightly  depressed,  but  he 
had  made  no  scene  nor  visible  sign  of  his  feelings,  and 
quietly  replied  that  he  would  "be  ready  in  a  jiffy.'' 
The  blue  serge  suit  that  he  had  worn  to  prison  was 
brought  to  him,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  was  dressed. 
He  began  at  once  to  pack  his  large  leather  suit-case. 
It  was  soon  apparent  to  Debs  that  he  could  not  take  with 
him  to  Atlanta  all  of  his  prison  property.  There  had 
accumulated  many  gifts,  enough  to  fill  two  ample  pack- 
ing boxes,  since  he  had  been  at  Moundsville,  so  "Old 
Nigger  Bill,''  Debs's  side-partner  and  self-appointed 
valet,  was  instantly  mustered  into  active  service  by  Debs 
to  help  him  pack. 

When  "Old  Nigger  Bill"  was  called  into  the  room 
and  his  eyes  fell  upon  Debs  clothed  in  street  attire  they 
danced  to  the  tune  of  the  song  that  was  in  his  heart 
for  he  thought  that  Debs  had  been  pardoned.  But  when 
he  was  made  to  understand  the  full  import  of  this  sud- 
den change  he  could  not  be  comforted. 

"What  am  dey  doin'  dis  foh,  Mistah  Debs?"  he  in- 
quired with  husky  voice;  "ain't  we  all  happy  heah  to- 

101 


102    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

gethu?  Ain't  we  gettin'  along  all  right?''  Debs  took 
the  two  fat  cheeks  of  the  old  Negro  ''lifer"  between  his 
palms  and  patted  them  gently,  saying  as  he  did  so, 
*'It  is  all  right,  Old  Bill,  everything  will  come  out  all 
right;  we'll  not  forget  each  other,  will  we?"  The  two 
men  set  to  work  at  packing. 

"Old  Bill"  started  to  weep  softly.  Every  little  while 
he  would  sing  with  violent  emphasis  a  verse  from  some 
Methodist  hymn,  in  vain  and  futile  attempt  to  smother 
his  sobs. 

''Now  stop  that  crying.  Bill,  and  wrap  up  this  bundle 
for  me,"  Debs  would  command  in  kindly  tones.  "One 
would  suppose  that  you  were  losing  your  wife,  the  way 
you  are  carrying  on,  you  old  rascal." 

"Old  Bill"  dropped  on  the  floor  the  bundle  he  was 
tieing  and  looked  straight  into  Debs's  eyes. 

"I'm  losin'  the  best  friend  I  evah  had,  Mistah  Debs," 
sobbed  the  darky,  breaking  afresh  into  a  flood  of  tears. 
"It  wouldn't  be  so  bad  if  you  was  goin'  home,  but  to 
help  you  to  go  to  another  prison — it's  too  much,  Mistah 
Debs,  it's  too  much."  Finally  the  packing  was  accom- 
plished. Debs  addressed  each  parcel,  indicating  where 
it  should  be  sent.  This  was  done  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  warden  who  assured  Debs  that  all  of  his  property 
would  be  well  cared  for,  even  that  which  he  might  chose 
to  leave  behind  for  some  future  time. 

Debs  then  went  the  rounds  of  the  hospital,  bidding 
each  man  good-by  and  extending  his  hand  to  all  alike. 
Some  of  the  prisoners  were  abed,  while  others  were  in 
wheel  chairs  on  the  porch.  To  each  man  Debs  gave 
cigars,  fruit  and  candy  which  had  been  sent  to  him  by 
his  friends.  Tears  ran  in  rivulets  down  the  hollow 
cheeks  of  three  tubercular  patients  over  whom  Debs  had 
w^atched  with  tender  care.  There  was  unutterable  sad- 
ness and  misery  among  these  men.  They  were  not  So- 
cialists. They  did  not  comprehend  the  social  ideals  to 
which  Debs  adhered.   "They  had  come  to  know  him  only 


TRANSFERRED  TO  ATLANTA  103 

as  a  man — a  loving,  gentle,  thoughtful,  tender  compan- 
ion who  understood  them;  one  who  did  not  pity  them, 
but  who  championed  them.  They  understood  this  only 
from  the  look  in  his  eyes,  and  from  the  smile  that 
wreathed  his  wrinkled  face  when  he  was  near  them.  And 
now  he  had  bid  them  good-by. 

One  of  them  called  after  him: 

**If  ever  you  run  again  for  President,  Mr.  Debs,  and 
I'm  out  of  here,  put  me  down  for  one  vote." 

*'And  if  ever  you  are  in  sorrow  or  trouble,"  replied 
Debs,  *'put  me  down  as  one  friend." 

When  Debs  finally  left  the  prison  ''Old  Nigger  Bill" 
was  sitting  on  the  stone  steps  of  the  hospital,  a  broom 
between  his  knees,  his  kinky  head  lying  heavily  in  his 
folded  arms.  He  had  cried  all  he  could.  The  tears 
would  not  come  any  more.  But  Time  would,  and  with 
it  would  come  balm  for  his  poor,  distracted  soul. 

It  is  doubtful  if  the  movements  of  a  President  of  the 
United  States  have  ever  been  guarded  with  more  care 
and  caution  in  critical  moments  than  were  those  of 
Debs  from  the  time  he  left  Moundsville  until  he  reached 
Atlanta.  He  motored  to  Wheeling,  a  ten-mile  run,  with 
Warden  Terrell,  the  latter 's  son,  just  home  from  college, 
and  a  prison  guard.  At  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  railroad 
station  the  party  was  joined  by  United  States  Marshal 
Ned  Smith,  of  Fairmont,  West  Virginia,  and  Deputy 
Joyce  of  Parkersburg.  Debs  chatted  pleasantly  with 
the  warden  and  his  son.  When  Debs  entrained  there 
were  more  than  one  hundred  persons  in  the  train  shed, 
and  not  a  single  person,  aside  from  the  members  of  his 
party,  knew  that  he  was  there. 

Fearful  lest  some  hitch  might  occur  at  the  last  mo- 
ment to  balk  their  plans  to  spirit  Debs  away  into  the 
south,  the  United  States  Marshal  had  instructed  the 
managers  of  the  Western  Union  and  the  Postal  Telegraph 
companies  in  Wheeling  to  accept  no  newspaper  "copy" 
from  any  reporter  dealing  with  the  Debs  case.     This 


104    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

censorship  of  the  nation's  wires  concerning  Debs  was 
kept  for  twenty-four  hours,  being  lifted  at  seven  o  'clock 
the  next  morning,  June  14,  when  Debs  was  then  but 
a  few  hours  away  from  Atlanta  Prison. 

Debs  left  Wheeling  on  the  10 :40  train  for  Cincinnati, 
where  he  changed  for  the  Louisville  and  Nashville  rail- 
road to  Atlanta.  He  and  his  party  arrived  in  the  South- 
ern city  early  Saturday  afternoon.  The  entire  trip  was 
made  in  a  private  compartment  on  both  railroads.  Debs 
told  me  later  when  I  visited  him  at  Atlanta  that  both 
his  guards  had  been  genial  and  courteous  to  him  and 
tried  to  make  the  trip  as  comfortable  as  possible,  but 
Debs  spoke  of  the  incident  as  ''kidnaping."  At  Cin- 
cinnati he  gave  the  following  statement  to  the  press : 

*'The  first  I  knew  I  was  to  be  transferred  was  this 
morning  when  I  was  told  to  get  ready.  It  is  all  the 
same  to  me.  I  would  have  made  no  legal  effort  to  pre- 
vent my  transfer  had  I  known  of  the  plans.  I  care 
nothing  about  technicalities.  During  my  trial  I  cau- 
tioned my  lawyers  to  make  no  technical  exceptions,  and 
I  admitted  the  truth  when  it  was  presented  by  the  gov- 
ernment. 

*'In  Moundsville  I  was  treated  with  fairness  and  kind- 
ness and  so  were  the  other  prisoners  as  far  as  I  could 
observe.  I  was  there  two  months  and  Warden  Terrell 
showed  himself  to  be  a  good  administrator  and  at  the 
same  time  a  humane  and  considerate  man." 

Solicitous  about  Debs's  welfare  up  to  the  last.  War- 
den Terrell  wrote  a  personal  letter  to  Warden  Fred  G. 
Zerbst  of  Atlanta  Federal  Prison,  which  Marshal  Smith 
took  with  him,  explaining  the  manner  and  method  of  his 
treatment  of  Debs  at  Moundsville  and  expressing  the 
hope  that  Warden  Zerbst  would  himself  be  able  to 
treat  Debs  in  the  same  kindly  manner. 

**I  am  just  as  much  concerned  about  Debs  as  a  man 
as  any  of  his  followers, ' '  Terrell  said  to  me  when  I  vis- 


TRANSFEERED  TO  ATLANTA  105 

ited  him  a  few  days  after  Debs  had  left  his  prison.  *  *  I 
told  him  that  if  any  time  I  could  serve  him  he  should 
call  upon  me,  and  I  mean  that  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart."  Of  course  there  was  not  the  slightest  political 
affinity  between  Debs  and  his  former  keeper.  Terrell 
is  a  Democrat  and  a  member  of  his  party  in  West  Vir- 
ginia. He  is  the  political  appointee  of  a  Democratic 
governor.  Terrell  does  not  believe  in  Debs's  social  ideas. 
He  regards  them  as  visionary  and  impractical,  but  as  a 
man  Debs  rises  to  heroic  figure  in  the  -warden's  esteem. 
This  was  brought  about  during  the  two  months  that 
Debs  was  Terrell's  ward.  The  men  had  never  met  be- 
fore, although  Terrell  did  know,  as  every  one  else  does, 
of  Debs  by  his  reputation  and  public  career. 

**I  never  in  my  life  met  a  kinder  man,"  were  Terrell's 
words.  ''He  is  forever  thinking  of  others,  trying  to 
serve  them,  and  never  thinking  of  himself." 

For  six  weeks  after  Debs  was  shifted  to  Atlanta  the 
reasons  for  his  transfer  were  as  mysterious  as  the  se- 
crecy which  had  shrouded  his  actual  movement  to  the 
Southern  prison.  Cryptic  and  laconic  statements  made 
by  several  officials  of  the  Department  of  Justice  at 
[Washington  in  answer  to  inquiries  of  his  friends  and  at- 
torneys only  served  to  heighten  the  suspicion  in  the 
minds  of  Debs's  thousands  of  followers  throughout  the 
land  that  he  had  been  ordered  transferred  to  another 
prison  because  of  the  kindnesses  and  considerations 
given  to  him  by  his  keeper  at  Moundsville.  The  of- 
ficials at  Washington  had  the  facts  and  could  have 
allayed  the  mental  unrest  of  Socialists  and  liberals  in- 
terested in  Debs  and  his  welfare  by  giving  them  to  the 
public.    They  chose  not  so  to  do. 

Joseph  W.  Sharts,  an  attorney  at  law,  of  Dayton, 
Ohio,  who  was  associated  in  the  defense  of  Debs  at  his 
trial  in  Cleveland,  inquired  of  the  Department  of  Jus- 
tice the  reasons  of  Debs's  removal.  In  reply  he  received 
the  following: 


106    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Sib: 

The  Department  of  Justice  has  your  letter  of  the 
18th  instant,  in  which  you  ask  to  be  informed  as  to  the 
grounds  upon  which  Federal  Prisoner,  Eugene  V.  Debs, 
was  transferred  from  West  Virginia  penitentiary  to  the 
Atlanta  Federal  prison. 

Debs  was  ordered  transferred  upon  a  demand  made 
by  the  State  Board  of  Control  for  his  removal. 
Respectfully,  for  the  Attorney  General, 
Claude  R.  Porter, 
Assistant  Attorney  General. 
June  21,  1919. 

On  June  26,  Mr.  Sharts  dispatched  a  second  letter  to 
the  Department  of  Justice,  inquiring  upon  what  legal 
grounds  Attorney  General  Palmer  had  removed  Debs. 
Sharts  quoted  the  law  to  the  Attorney  General  upon 
which  a  federal  prisoner  may  be  removed.  This  statute, 
it  appears,  gives  three  grounds  upon  which  such  re- 
moval can  be  made:  First,  the  health  of  the  prisoner, 
at  his  request ;  second,  brutal  treatment  at  the  first  place, 
at  his  request  for  removal;  third,  the  insecurity  of  the 
place  of  confinement. 

Under  date  of  July  1,  1919,  Sharts  received  the  fol- 
lowing reply: 
Sir: 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  the  26th  ultimo,  you  are 
informed  that  the  West  Virginia  State  Board  of  Control 
demanded  the  removal  of  Federal  Prisoner  Eugene  V. 
Debs  from  the  West  Virginia  Penitentiary,   and   the 
transfer  thereupon  was  directed  by  the  Attorney  General 
in  accordance  with  the  power  vested  in  him  by  law  to 
transfer  federal  prisoners  under  certain  conditions. 
Respectfully,  for  the  Attorney  General, 
William  L.  Finson, 
Assistant  Attorney  General. 

When  the  nation-wide  interest  in  Debs's  removal, 
coupled  with  the  fact  that  his  treatment  at  Atlanta 


TRANSFEERED  TO  ATLANTA  107 

was  on  the  same  dead  level  with  that  accorded  the  com- 
monest prisoner,  which  is  not  conducive  to  perfect  health 
nor  happy  spirits,  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  John 
J.  Cornwell,  Governor  of  West  Virginia,  through  a  news- 
paper article  in  a  Chicago  Socialist  paper.  Governor 
Cornwell  at  once  sent  to  me  personally  copies  of  the 
official  correspondence  between  the  West  Virginia 
State  Board  of  Control  and  F.  H.  Duehay,  Superin- 
tendent of  Prisons,  Department  of  Justice,  Washington, 
D.  C. 

The  State  Board  of  Control  set  forth  in  their  letter, 
dated  June  2,  1919,  the  fact  that  it  had  entered  into  an 
agreement  with  the  Federal  Government  to  receive  and 
care  for  federal  prisoners  at  the  Moundsville  Peniten- 
tiary for  the  sum  of  forty  cents  per  day.  Since  that 
agreement  was  made,  the  Board  complained,  few  federal 
prisoners  had  been  received  at  Moundsville,  and  there 
was  a  likelihood  that  they  would  not  receive  any  more. 
The  Board's  letter  further  stated: 

**We  have  Eugene  V.  Debs  .  .  .  confined  in  the  West 
Virginia  Penitentiary,  and  since  his  admittance  we 
have  had  to  put  on  extra  guard  force,  which  has  in- 
creased our  expenses  $500.00  per  month,  but  we  felt  it 
necessary  to  do  this  for  his  safety  as  well  as  that  of  the 
other  prisoners.  If  we  cannot  get  some  federal  prison- 
ers to  help  bear  this  extra  expense  in  connection  with 
his  care  we  shall  have  to  ask  to  have  him  cared  for  in 
some  other  institution." 

The  Board's  letter  concluded  with  the  request: 

*'Will  you  kindly  let  us  know  if  you  cannot  arrange 
to  let  us  have  100  or  150  prisoners. ' ' 

In  response  to  this  letter  Mr.  Duehay,  under  date  of 
June  5,  1919,  replied  that  the  government  had  found 
it  necessary  to  use  several  state  penitentiaries  for  the 
care  of  regular  federal  prisoners,  as  well  as  a  number  of 
federal  prisoners  charged  with  violation  of  the  Espion- 
age Law,  since  the  two  federal  prisons,  Atlanta  and 


108    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Leavenworth,  had  become  overcrowded  during  the  war 
with  a  lar^e  number  of  military  prisoners.  Since  the 
signing  of  the  armistice,  however,  many  of  the  militarj 
prisoners  had  been  released,  and  this  had  made  room  for 
regular  federal  prisoners. 

Then  Mr.  Duehay  stated  in  his  letter : 

*'In  accordance  with  your  request,  I  will  have  orders 
prepared  immediately  for  the  transfer  of  Federal  Pris- 
oner Eugene  V.  Debs  from  the  Moundsvilld  institu- 
tion.'' 

The  orders  were  prepared  and  Debs,  as  we  have  seen,, 
was  removed  to  Atlanta  Prison  on  June  13. 

There  does  not  appear  to  be  anything  mysterious,  on 
the  face  of  these  two  documents  at  least,  in  the  removal 
of  Debs.  The  matter  might  easily  have  been  cleared  up 
by  giving  this  official  information  to  the  public,  straight- 
ly  and  directly.  On  the  other  hand,  the  officials  in  Mr. 
Palmer's  department  succeeded  in  arousing  bitterness, 
if  not  hatred  in  some  quarters,  against  an  important  arm 
of  the  government  which,  many  persons  imagined,  had 
been  raised  to  strike  Debs  down;  to  shorten  his  life  by 
forcing  him  to  spend  fourteen  hours  of  every  day  in 
a  cell  with  five  other  prisoners;  to  deny  him  any  and 
all  considerations  as  a  political  prisoner,  which  he  is  in 
fact ;  and  to  cut  him  off  from  the  world  and  its  interests 
by  withholding  from  him  all  newspapers,  magazines  and 
I^ooks — leaving  him  absolutely  alone. 

"Warden  Terrell  did  not  know  that  Debs  was  to  be 
removed  until  a  few  hours  before  it  happened.  He  was 
as  surprised  as  any,  he  told  me,  when  Marshal  Smith 
demanded  that  he  surrender  Debs.  The  warden  was 
not  only  shocked  but  regretful  that  Debs  was  going 
from  him.  Terrell  stated  that  when  Debs  first  came  to 
Moundsville  he  did  order  one  extra  arc  light  installed 
at  the  comer  of  the  hospital  building  near  the  room 
which  Debs  occupied.  If  I  remember  correctly,  the 
warden  also  stated  that  he  did  order  a  patrol  of  two 


TRANSFERRED  TO  ATLANTA  109 

extra  guards  in  the  vicinity  of  the  hospital.  He  ex- 
plained that  he  took  this  extra  precaution  not  on  Debs's 
account,  but  because  he  did  not  know  the  character  of 
some  of  Debs's  friends  who  called  to  see  him,  and  rather 
than  bar  them  all  out  he  had  installed  the  extra  guards. 
These  he  discontinued,  however,  after  the  first  week  or 
two  that  Debs  was  there,  explaining  later  that  he  felt 
certain  that  Debs  would  encourage  the  visit  of  none 
whom  he  suspected  as  being  untrustworthy. 

If  we  assume  the  correctness  of  Warden  Terrell's  ver- 
sion of  the  expense  entailed  by  his  keeping  Debs,  it 
would  appear  that  the  State  Board  of  Control  might 
have  overstated  the  total  liability  incurred  by  his  pres- 
ence there  in  order  to  convince  the  government  of  the 
necessity  of  their  receiving  more  federal  prisoners  at 
the  rate  of  forty  cents  per  day  per  man,  and  thus 
assure  the  self-sustaining  qualities  of  Moundsville 
Prison. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  whole  incident  might  easily 
have  arisen  through  misunderstanding;  but  whatever 
the  motives  or  the  lack  of  them,  Debs  was  unquestionably 
the  victim. 


CHAPTER  VI 
EARLY  DATS  AND  BACKGROUNDS 

EUGENE  VICTOR  DEBS  was  bom  November  5, 
1855,  in  Terre  Haute,  Indiana.  BCe  was  one  of  ten 
children  of  Jean  Daniel  Debs  and  Marguerite  Bettrich 
Debs,  both  natives  of  Alsace.  The  father  was  born  at 
Colmar,  Alsace,  France,  December  4,  1820.  He  left 
Colmar  on  a  sailing  ship  bound  for  America  on  No- 
vember 10,  1848,  and  arrived  at  New  York  City  Janu- 
ary 20,  1849.  Marguerite  Marie  Bettrich  followed  Mr. 
Debs  to  America  shortly  afterward,  leaving  Colmar  on 
August  7,  1849,  and  arriving  at  New  York  September 
11,  1849.  They  were  married  in  New  York  City  two 
days  later.  The  early  movements  of  the  parents  are 
accounted  for  as  follows:  Left  New  York  for  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  September  30,  1850 ;  left  Cincinnati  for  Terre 
Haute,  May  20,  1851 ;  left  Terre  Haute  March  24,  1854, 
returning  to  New  York  and  locating  in  Williamsburg, 
Long  Island,  now  Brooklyn;  left  Brooklyn  September 
25  of  the  same  year,  returning  to  Terre  Haute  where 
they  permanently  located.  Of  the  ten  children,  six  lived 
to  adult  age,  four  sisters,  and  one  brother,  Theodore. 
They  made  a  happy  family  group.  Both  parents  were 
passionately  fond  of  their  native  country,  France,  the 
father  having  many  stories  to  tell  the  children,  gathered 
about  their  humble  fireside,  of  France's  shadows  and 
sunshine.  Jean  Daniel  Debs  possessed  a  well  equipped 
library  of  French  history,  as  well  as  the  works  of  some 
of  the  most  noted  French  writers,  including  Victor 
Hugo,  who  was  one  of  their  favorites.  Very  early  in 
his  life,  Eugene  became  acquainted  with  the  works  of 

110 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGEOUNDS       111 

Hugo,  and  the  master's  characterization  of  Jean  Yal 
Jean  in  *'Les  Miserables"  made  an  indelible  impression 
upon  his  mind. 

Despite  the  happy  and  loving  family  in  which  Eugene 
was  fortunate  to  have  been  bom,  his  childhood  was 
somewhat  shadowed  by  the  gathering  clouds  of  war 
which  were  soon  to  deluge  the  nation  with  the  blood 
of  its  sons  and  fathers  in  fratricidal  strife  over  the 
issue  of  chattel  slavery.  He  saw  Indiana's  manhood 
march  away  to  the  battlefields,  strong  and  sure  in  the 
justice  of  their  cause,  and  he  saw  them  return  to  their 
homes  and  huts,  maimed,  diseased  and  afflicted  with  all 
the  nameless  ailments  to  which  a  warrior  is  heir.  He 
heard  the  shrill  sounds  of  strife  and  pain,  the  tramp, 
tramp,  tramp  of  marching  men  going  to  victory  and  to 
death,  and  he  saw  some  of  them  return  beaten  and  sick 
in  soul  and  body.  One  could  not  say  to  what  extent 
these  scenes  and  sounds  of  conflict  influenced  Eugene 
Debs  to  take  his  stand  against  war,  but  it  is  notable  that 
not  once  in  his  long  and  varied  career  as  a  labor  leader 
has  he  ever  counseled  violence  as  a  means  to  the  settle- 
ment of  any  dispute.  On  the  other  hand,  he  has  never 
compromised  with  a  principle  that  he  held  to  be  right 
and  just,  but  he  has  said  again  and  again  that  if  those 
principles  were  right  and  were  just  they  would  be  ac- 
cepted through  the  enlightened  reason  of  mankind.  To 
force  them  upon  people  not  ready  or  willing  to  accept 
them  would  be  to  defeat  the  principle  itself.  That  has 
been  his  stand  on  every  public  question,  and  not  once 
has  he  deviated  from  it. 

Eugene  was  devoted  to  his  father  and  mother,  as 
were  all  the  children  who  affectionately  called  them 
** Dandy"  and  ''Daisy."  There  were  no  jealousies  or 
cross  currents  of  petty  feelings  in  the  family  circle. 
Love,  one  for  another,  was  not  only  felt,  but  expressed 
in  acts  of  service  and  of  sacrifice.    Mrs.  Debs  died  April 


112    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

29,  1906,  and  the  elder  Debs  followed  her  soon  after- 
wards— November  27,  1906. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  golden  wedding  anniversary  of 
his  parents  at  Terre  Haute,  September  13,  1899,  Eugene 
Debs,  surrounded  by  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  their 
husbands,  wives  and  children  paid  a  tribute  to  his 
mother  and  father  in  word  pictures  that  mark  him 
forever  a  poet  and  artist,  a  man  with  a  woman's  heart, 
a  son  with  a  grateful  soul.  This  was  the  picture  he 
painted: 

''The  celebration  of  a  Golden  Wedding  is  a  rare  oc- 
currence in  the  history  of  families;  only  to  the  favored 
few  is  such  a  blessing  vouchsafed.  It  is  an  occasion  when 
nuptial  vows  pledged  at  Hymen's  altar  take  on  inex- 
pressible sacredness.  A  far  distant  day  is  recalled  when 
'two  souls  with  but  a  single  thought'  and  two  loving 
hearts  that  'beat  as  one'  courageously  and  confidently 
entered  upon  the  voyage  of  matrimony. 

" .  .  .  In  fancy 's  eye  we  see  their  beautiful  and  vine- 
clad  France;  we  see  them  in  the  bloom  and  strength 
of  youth,  standing  at  the  altar  and  pledging  to  each 
other  unchanging  fidelity  in  storm  and  shine,  ready  to 
meet  the  future  as  the  days  unfolded  their  duties,  their 
opportunities,  their  tasks  and  trials,  sustained  by  a 
faith  and  hope  which  cheered  them  on  their  pilgrimage 
through  aU  their  married  days. 

"...  Love  has  been  their  guiding  star;  no  cloud 
ever  obscured  it;  and  the  darker  the  day  of  adversity 
the  brighter  shone  their  love  which  bathed  their  home 
in  its  mellow,  cheering  light. 

"In  celebrating  this  Golden  Wedding  Anniversary, 
all  the  halcyon  days  of  our  lives  are  included  and  there 
come  to  us  messages  from  the  past,  under  the  sea  and 
over  the  land,  burdened  with  the  aroma  of  violets  and 
roses,  caught  from  the  flower  gardens  of  memory, 
planted  in  youth  and  blooming  in  perennial  beauty  of 
old  age. 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   113 

**The  serenity,  the  rare  loveliness  of  this  scene  create 
emotions  which  no  words,  however  fitly  chosen,  can  ex- 
press. I  can  but  say  in  the  name  of  my  sisters  and 
my  brothers  and  those  younger  in  the  family  bonds  of 
allegiance  to  our  father — the  patriarch  of  these  sons  and 
daughters — that  we  tender  him  our  warmest  congratula- 
tions upon  this  rare  occasion.  When  we  greet  him  our 
hearts  are  in  our  hands ;  when  we  kiss  his  time-furrowed 
cheeks  our  hearts  are  on  our  lips,  and  when  we  con- 
gratulate him  upon  this,  his  golden  wedding  anniversary, 
our  hearts  are  in  our  words. 

*'.  .  .  There  are  two  words  in  our  language  forever 
sacred  to  memory — Mother  and  Home!  Home,  the 
heaven  upon  earth,  and  mother  its  presiding  angel.  To 
us,  children,  here  to-day,  mother  and  home  have  realized 
all  the  longing,  yearning  aspirations  of  our  souls,  and 
now,  in  this  blissful  presence,  we  quaff  to  our  mother 
cups  full  and  overflowing  with  the  divine  nectar  of  our 
love.  I  need  not  attempt  to  recite  her  deeds  of  devotion. 
There  is  not  a  page  of  our  memory,  not  a  tablet  of  our 
hearts,  that  is  not  adorned  and  beautified  by  acts  of  her 
loving  care,  in  which  her  heart  and  her  hands,  her  eyes 
and  her  soul,  in  holy  alliance,  ministered  to  our  happi- 
ness. There  was  never  a  time  when  there  was  not  a 
song  in  her  heart,  sweeter  than  ^olian  melody,  wooing 
her  children  from  folly  to  the  blessedness,  security, 
peace  and  contentment  of  home.  Her  children  were  her 
jewels  in  home's  shining  circle,  and  if  by  the  fiat  of  death 
a  gem  dropped  away,  the  affectionate  care  it  had  received 
added  soulful  charm  to  her  lullaby  songs  when  at  night 
she  dismissed  us  and  sent  us  to  dreamland  repose. 

*'.  .  ."We  do  not  ask  what  the  future  has  in  store, 
we  only  know  that  we  have  the  bride  and  groom  in  our 
presence,  and  that  it  is  an  inexpressible  joy  to  pledge 
them  anew  our  unfaltering  devotion  and  our  eternal 
love.'' 

Eugene  was  always  a  ''home  boy,"  and  in  his  later 


114    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

life  no  man  enjoyed  more  than  he  his  family  circle. 
He  never  sought  diversion  in  any  social  club  or  lodge, 
always  preferring  to  spend  his  evenings  quietly  at  home 
with  his  parents  while  they  lived,  and  with  his  wife  and 
intimates  in  his  later  years.  Debs  himself  once  men- 
tioned this  attachment.    He  said : 

*'My  father  and  I  were  boon  companions,  and  I  tell 
you,  I  miss  it  when  I  cannot  have  my  Sunday  evening 
talks  with  him.  When  I  am  out  traveling,  every  day 
seems  alike,  but  when  Sunday  evening  comes,  I  in- 
variably feel  something  tugging  at  my  heartstrings." 

In  many  ways  he  has  paid  tribute  to  his  mother. 
Once  he  remarked: 

*'The  dominant  influence  in  my  life  has  been  my 
mother.  Whatever  of  good  there  is  in  me  I  owe  to 
her.  Do  you  know,  I  care  absolutely  nothing  for  the 
praise  or  condemnation  of  the  world  so  long  as  my 
wife  and  mother  think  I  am  in  the  right. ' ' 

After  the  death  of  his  mother.  Debs  wrote  a  poem  to 
her  memory.  It  was  one  of  the  very  few  times,  if  not 
the  only  one,  when  he  was  moved  to  express  himself 
in  verse.  The  poem,  entitled  "Where  Daisy  Sleeps," 
which  he  wrote  in  May,  1906,  follows: 

The  grass  grows  green 
Where  Daisy  sleeps; 
The  Mulberry  tree  its  vigil  keeps 
Where  Daisy  sleeps. 

The  winds  blow  soft  ' 

Where  Daisy  sleeps; 

The  modest,  blue-eyed  violet  peeps 

Where   Daisy   sleeps. 

The  birds  sing  sweet 
Where  Daisy  sleeps; 
The  mournful  willow  bends  and 

weeps 
Where    Daisy    sleeps. 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   115 

The  sun  shines  bright 

Where  Daisy  sleeps; 

Each  changing  season  sows  and 

reaps 
Where  Daisy  sleeps. 

The  flowers  bloom  fair 

Where  Daisy  sleeps; 

The  evening  shadow  softly  creeps 

Where  Daisy  sleeps. 

Our  hearts  beat  true 
Where  Daisy  sleeps; 
And    love    its    watch    forever 


Where  Daisy  sleeps. 

Eugene  *s  parents  were  very  poor.  The  elder  Debs 
was  always  scrupulously  honorable  in  all  his  dealings. 
Eugene  had  been  born  in  a  frame  dwelling  at  No.  447 
North  Fourth  street,  Terre  Haute.  There  were  many 
children  and  it  was  a  problem  to  support  them;  so 
Eugene's  school  years  were  cut  short  with  his  gradua- 
tion from  the  Old  Seminary  School,  in  Terre  Haute. 
Upon  the  site  of  that  latter-day  institution  now  stands 
the  imposing  structure  of  the  Indiana  State  Normal 
School.  In  May,  1870,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  Eugene 
began  to  work  in  the  shops,  and  later  as  locomotive  fire- 
man for  the  Terre  Haute  and  Indianapolis  Railway 
Company,  now  a  part  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad. 
When  Eugene  took  his  lantern  and  left  his  home  every 
night  for  the  railroad  yards  his  mother  could  not  con- 
ceal her  fears  for  the  safety  of  the  lad  who  must  act 
as  fireman  on  that  unballasted  and  prairie  railroad. 
Eugene's  pay  envelope,  which  he  turned  over  to  his 
mother  unopened,  was  decidedly  slim.  At  first  he  re- 
ceived one  dollar  a  day,  and  later,  as  fireman,  was  paid 
on  a  mileage  basis.  It  was  the  tears  and  fears  of  his 
mother  that  caused  him  to  abandon  his  railroad  em- 
ployment in  October,  1874,  for  a  clerkship  offered  him 


116    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

by  Herman  Hulman,  of  the  firm  of  Hulman  and  Cox, 
grocers,  at  Terre  Haute.  Eugene  spent  five  years  as  a 
grocery  clerk,  relinquishing  this  employment  in  Sep- 
tember, 1879,  when  he  was  elected  city  clerk,  an  office 
which  he  held  four  years. 

Thirty-three  years  after  Debs  had  left  the  employment 
of  Hulman  and  Cox,  he  was  a  candidate  for  President 
of  the  United  States  on  the  Socialist  ticket.  His  former 
employers  publicly  made  the  following  statement,  among 
other  testimonials,  to  the  voters  of  the  nation  concerning 
Debs: 

"Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  July  6,  1912. 

**In  response  to  your  request  for  an  expression  from 
us  of  our  opinion  of  Mr.  Eugene  V.  Debs,  we  wish  to 
say  that  we  have  intimately  known  Mr.  Debs  for  more 
than  forty  years;  and  for  five  years  of  this  time  he 
was  in  our  employ. 

**We  consider  Mr.  Debs  unselfish  and  generous- 
hearted;  a  man  whose  life  has  been  devoted  to  helpful 
service  to  his  fellow-men.  His  chief  delight  seems  to  be 
to  serve  others. 

**In  all  business  transactions  between  us  we  have 
found  him  to  be  honorable  and  upright — a  man  of  strict 
honesty  and  integrity,  and  devoid  of  the  desire  to  over- 
reach or  take  advantage  or  deal  unjustly  with  others. 

**As  a  public  man  he  has  had  many  opportunities  to 
*  feather  his  nest,'  but  he  has  uniformly  refused  to  do  so. 

"No  man  who  knows  him  as  we  do  could  ever  suspect 
Mm  of  using  any  public  trust  for  private  gain. 

"Many  years  of  close  acquaintance  have  revealed  his 
many  fine  qualities  to  us,  his  thorough  reliability,  his 
moral  uprightness,  his  deep  sincerity,  his  honesty  of 
purpose  and  his  rich  endowment  of  mind  and  heart." 

We  might  pause  here  a  moment  to  go  back  to  the 
reference  in  the  Hulman  letter  that  Debs  has  uniformly 
refused  to  "feather  his  nest."     It  is  doubtful  if  any 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   117 

man  in  America  has  had  more  opportunities  thrust  in 
his  way  to  capitalize  his  talents  than  Debs. 

He  has  been  blind  to  all  glitter  of  gold,  and  deaf  to 
the  tinkle  of  silver.  He  could  have  been  a  very  rich 
man,  either  in  a  public  or  private  way,  had  he  deigned 
to  use  his  silver  tongue  for  the  gathering  of  gold  dollars. 
Instead,  he  has  given  all  and  received  little.  He  has 
given  to  the  poor  even  when  he  did  not  actually  have 
it  to  give,  but  borrowed.  Debs  is  a  very  poor  man  in 
the  material  sense.  All  of  their  lives,  he  and  his  devoted 
brother  Theodore,  who  has  managed  his  four  presiden- 
tial campaigns  and  his  lecture  tours,  have  struggled  in 
a  hand-to-mouth  way  to  make  ends  meet.  A  number 
of  years  ago  there  was  an  article  published  in  The 
Twentieth  Century  Magazme,  which  has  since  ceased  to 
exist,  entitled  ''The  Personal  Side  of  Eugene  V.  Debs.'* 
In  the  article  appeared  a  picture  of  the  old  shack  of  a 
house  in  which  he  was  born,  and  also  the  picture  of  the 
modem  house  which  he  now  maintains  as  his  home,  at 
451  North  Eighth  street.  This  article  brought  forth  a 
number  of  editorals  from  reactionary  and  anti-labor 
newspapers,  seeking  to  prove  that  Debs's  preaching  was 
not  practiced  by  him,  simply  because  he  was  bom  in  a 
shack  and  now  dared  to  live  in  a  modern  dwelling. 

George  Bicknell,  poet,  artist  and  craftsman,  and  for 
some  while  Chautauqua  manager,  once  was  instrumental 
in  having  a  Chautauqua  Bureau  offer  Debs  twenty  dates 
during  one  month  at  $150  each.  Debs  declined  the 
offer,  preferring  to  work  in  the  interests  of  labor  for  a 
trifle  more  than  his  traveling  expenses. 

Upon  one  of  my  visits  to  him  in  prison.  Debs  spoke 
of  having  received  a  deed  to  a  house  and  lot  bequeathed 
to  him  by  a  woman  in  California,  whom  he  did  not  know 
by  name  and  had  never  to  his  knowledge  seen.  The 
deed  had  been  properly  affixed  by  the  executors  of  the 
dead  woman's  estate,  and  the  property  was  ready  for  his 
use  or  disposal.    Debs  had,  just  a  few  days  before,  sent 


118    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

the  deed  to  his  brother  Theodore,  at  Terre  Haute,  in- 
structing him  to  have  a  lawyer  arrange  for  the  transferal 
of  the  property  to  the  Socialist  Party's  branch  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  property  so  his  comrades  might  have  use 
of  it  as  their  headquarters  and  club-rooms.  There  are 
incidents  of  this  nature,  too  numerous  to  mention,  show- 
ing how  Debs  has  resolutely  set  his  face  against  any 
money-making  enterprise,  or  any  scheme  that  would 
have  enriched  himself  financially. 

Debs's  first  step  into  the  organized  labor  movement 
was  taken  when,  on  the  evening  of  February  27,  1875, 
the  local  lodge  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Fire- 
men was  organized  at  Terre  Haute.  He  had  organized 
the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Brakemen,  now  the  Brother- 
hood of  Railway  Trainmen;  he  had  helped  to  organize 
the  Switchmen's  Mutual  Aid  Association,  the  Brother- 
hood of  Railway  Carmen,  the  Order  of  Railway  Telegra- 
phers, and  other  labor  unions.  It  was  at  the  Buffalo  Con- 
vention, in  1878,  that  he  was  first  recognized  as  a  labor 
leader  of  force  and  intellect,  for  the  convention  made 
him  associate  editor  of  the  Firemen's  Magazine.  In 
July,  1880,  he  was  appointed  Grand  Secretary  and 
Treasurer,  and  editor  and  manager  of  the  Firemen's 
Magazine.  He  served  in  the  former  capacity  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1893,  and  in  the  latter  capacity  until  September, 
1894. 

We  are  told  by  Stephen  Marion  Reynolds,  in  his 
sketch  of  Debs's  life,  that  when  Debs  took  charge  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  *'the 
order  had  only  sixty  lodges  and  $6,000  debt.  In  a 
short  time  he  had  been  able  to  add  226  lodges  and  had 
wiped  out  the  debt.  When  he  decided  to  resign  he  was 
receiving  $4,000  per  year.  It  was  at  the  Cincinnati 
Convention,  1892,  he  tendered  his  resignation,  which 
was  unanimously  refused;  he  was  unanimously  re- 
elected to  all  the  offices  previously  held.  He  again 
tendered  his  resignation  and  insisted  upon  its  accept- 


EARLY  DATS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   119 

ance,  with  the  frank  statement  that  ''organization" 
should  be  broad  enough  to  embrace  all  the  workers,  and 
that  he  desired  and  proposed  to  give  all  his  energy  to 
the  building  up  of  such  an  organization.  The  conven- 
tion unanimously  voted  to  give  him,  as  a  mark  of  appre- 
ciation, $2,000  for  a  trip  to  Europe,  for  rest  and  en- 
joyment; this  he  declined." 

The  true  motives  that  impelled  Debs  to  relinquish  the 
offices  he  held  with  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Fire- 
men are  best  stated  by  him  in  his  own  words  uttered  at 
the  time: 

' '  I  do  this  because  it  pleases  me,  and  there  is  nothing 
I  would  not  do,  so  far  ajs  human  effort  goes,  to  advance 
any  movement  designed  to  reach  and  rescue  perishing 
humanity.  I  have  a  heart  for  others  and  that  is  why  I 
am  in  this  work.  When  I  see  suffering  about  me,  I  my- 
self suffer,  and  so  when  I  put  forth  my  efforts  to  relieve 
others,  I  am  simply  working  for  myself,  I  do  not  con- 
sider that  I  have  made  any  sacrifice  whatever;  no  man 
does,  unless  he  violates  his  conscience." 

In  June,  1893,  Debs,  with  the  assistance  of  a  few 
others  organized  the  American  Railway  Union,  at 
Chicago.  His  salary  dropped  from  $4,000  a  year,  which 
he  received  from  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Fire- 
men, to  $75  a  month  from  the  A.  R.  U.  During  the  last 
two  years  of  the  American  Railway  Union's  existence 
Debs  drew  no  salary  at  all.  Of  his  activities  in  the 
A.  R.  U.  we  shall  deal  at  length  in  the  succeeding  chap- 
ter, for  they  mark  one  of  the  most  important  epochs  in 
his  career,  including,  as  they  do,  the  great  railroad 
strike  of  1894,  the  Pullman  strike  in  the  same  period, 
his  trial  for  murder,  treason  and  conspiracy,  and  his 
subsequent  imprisonment  at  "Woodstock  Jail,  Illinois. 

Debs  furnishes  us  with  an  illuminative  and  vigorous 
picture  of  those  early  days  in  the  labor  movement.  He 
had  been  admitted  as  a  charter  member  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Firemen  when  it  was  organized  in 


120    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Terre  Haute  in  1875  by  Joshua  A.  Leach,  then  Grand 
Master.    Debs  was  at  once  chosen  secretary. 

''  'Old  Josh  Leach/  as  he  was  affectionately  called, 
a  typical  locomotive  fireman  of  his  day,"  Debs  wrote 
years  later,  "was  the  founder  of  the  brotherhood,  and 
I  was  instantly  attracted  by  his  rugged  honesty,  simple 
manner  and  homely  speech.  How  well  I  remember  feel- 
ing his  large,  rough  hand  on  my  shoulder,  the  kindly 
eye  of  an  elder  brother  searching  my  own  as  he  gently 
said,  *My  boy,  you're  a  little  young,  but  I  believe  you're 
in  earnest  and  will  make  your  mark  in  the  brotherhood. ' 
Of  course,  I  assured  him  that  I  would  do  my  best.  What 
he  really  thought  at  the  time  flattered  my  boyish  vanity 
not  a  little  when  I  heard  of  it.  He  was  attending  a 
meeting  at  St.  Louis  some  months  later,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  remarks  said :  '  I  put  a  tow-headed  boy  in 
the  brotherhood  at  Terre  Haute  not  long  ago,  and  some 
day  he  will  be  at  the  head  of  it. ' 

''The  years  have  played  their  pranks  with  'Old  Josh' 
and  the  rest  of  us.  "When  last  we  met,  not  long  ago,  and 
I  pressed  his  good  right  hand,  I  observed  that  he  was 
crowned  with  the  frost  that  never  melts. 

"My  first  step  was  thus  taken  in  organized  labor  and 
a  new  influence  fired  my  ambition  and  changed  the  whole 
current  of  my  career.  I  was  filled  with  enthusiasm  and 
my  blood  fairly  leaped  in  my  veins.  Day  and  night  I 
worked  for  the  brotherhood.  To  see  its  watchfires  glow 
and  observe  the  increase  of  its  sturdy  members  were  the 
sunshine  and  shower  of  my  life.  To  attend  the  'meeting' 
was  my  supreme  joy,  and  for  ten  years  I  was  not  once 
absent  when  the  faithful  assembled. 

"...  With  all  the  fire  of  youth  I  entered  upon  the 
crusade  which  seemed  to  fairly  glitter  with  possibilities. 
For  eighteen  hours  at  a  stretch  I  was  glued  to  my  desk, 
reeling  off  the  answers  to  my  many  correspondents.  Day 
and  night  were  one.  Sleep  was  time  wasted.  Oh,  what 
days !    And  what  quenchless  zeal  and  consuming  vanity  I 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   121 

All  the  firemen  everywhere — and  they  were  all  the  world 
— were  straining: 

'*  'To  catch  the  beat 

On  my  tramping  feet.' 

*'My  grip  was  always  packed;  and  I  was  darting  in 
all  directions.  To  tramp  through  a  railroad  yard  in 
the  rain,  snow  or  sleet  half  the  night,  or  till  daybreak,  or 
to  he  ordered  out  of  the  roundhouse  for  being  an  'agita- 
tor, '  or  put  off  a  train,  sometimes  passenger,  more  often 
freight,  while  attempting  to  deadhead  over  the  division, 
were  all  in  the  program,  and  served  to  whet  the  appe- 
tite to  conquer. 

*  *  One  night  in  mid-winter  at  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  a  conduc- 
tor on  the  Erie  kindly  dropped  me  off  in  a  snowbank,  and 
as  I  clambered  to  the  top  I  ran  into  the  arms  of  a  police- 
man, who  heard  my  story  and  on  the  spot  became  my 
friend. 

*  *  I  rode  on  the  engines  over  mountain  and  plain,  slept 
in  the  cabooses  and  bunks,  and  was  fed  from  their  pails 
by  the  swarthy  stokers  who  still  nestle  close  to  my  heart, 
and  will  until  it  is  cold  and  still. 

**.  .  .  And  so  I  was  spurred  on  in  the  work  of  organ- 
izing, not  the  firemen  merely,  but  the  brakemen,  switch- 
men, telegraphers,  shop  men,  track-hands,  all  of  them 
in  fact,  and  as  I  had  now  become  known  as  an  organizer, 
the  calls  came  from  all  sides  and  there  are  but  few 
trades  I  have  not  helped  to  organize  and  less  still  in 
whose  strikes  I  have  not  at  some  time  had  a  hand.'' 

Debs  has  steadfastly  disclaimed  being  a  **  labor  lead- 
er." Several  years  ago  he  spoke  these  words  to  an 
audience  of  laboring  people: 

"I  am  not  a  Labor  Leader;  I  do  not  want  you  to 
follow  me  or  any  one  else.  If  you  are  looking  for  a 
Moses  to  lead  you  out  of  this  capitalist  wilderness,  you 
will  stay  right  where  you  are.  I  would  not  lead  you 
into  this  promised  land  if  I  could,  because  if  I  could 
lead  you  in,  some  one  else  would  lead  you  out.     You 


122    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

must  use  your  heads  as  well  as  your  hands,  and  get 
yourselves  out  of  your  present  condition ;  as  it  is  now  the 
capitalists  use  your  heads  and  your  hands/' 

It  has  been  his  pride  that  he  has  remained  in  the  ranks 
of  the  workers,  sharing  with  them  their  few  joys  and 
their  many  sorrows  and  setbacks.  A  man  who  steps 
out  of  the  ranks  and  becomes  a  leader,  especially  in  the 
labor  movement,  often  loses  psychological  and  spiritual 
connection  with  those  from  whose  ranks  he  has  emerged, 
and  becomes,  in  fact,  imbued  with  viewpoints  and  ideas 
alien  to  the  progress  of  labor.  The  history  of  the 
American  labor  movement,  and  doubtless  the  same  could 
be  said  of  the  labor  movements  of  other  countries,  has 
been  replete  with  instances  of  ''leaders"  who  have  risen 
to  power  over  the  backs  of  the  workers,  sometimes  by  the 
choice  of  the  latter  and  sometimes  by  the  cunning  of  the 
ambitious  ones,  only  to  play  into  the  hands  of  political, 
industrial  and  economic  reactionary  forces  whose  sys- 
tem of  handling  the  workers  is  inimical  to  their  social 
progress.  Since  this  has  been  so  in  almost  every  move- 
ment down  the  long  winding  track  of  the  ages  it  might 
be  said  to  be  "  natural ' ' ;  but  whether  it  is  or  not,  Debs 
has  constantly  cautioned  the  workers,  wherever  he  has 
spoken  to  them,  against  being  led  by  the  Moseses  who 
may,  or  may  not  have,  their  own  axes  to  grind  on  the 
stones  that  the  workers  have  dug  and  polished. 

It  was  in  1878  that  Debs  made  his  first  political 
speech,  advocating  the  principles  of  the  Democratic 
Party.  Almost  immediately  after  that  oration  he  was 
tendered  the  nomination  for  a  seat  in  Congress  and  de- 
clined it.  His  acceptance  at  that  time  would  have  been 
tantamount  to  his  election.  That  is  what  he  meant  when 
he  said  in  his  speech  before  Judge  Westenhaver  in  Cleve- 
land in  1918  before  sentence  was  passed  upon  him:  '*I 
could  have  been  in  Congress  long  ago.  I  have  preferred 
to  go  to  prison.  The  choice  has  been  deliberately  made. 
I  could  not  have  done  otherwise.    I  have  no  regrets. '* 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   123 

Determined  to  thrust  political  honors  upon  him,  the 
Democratic  Party  of  Indiana  nominated  him  for  a  seat 
in  the  State  Legislature  in  1885  and  he  was  elected.  It 
was  his  avowed  purpose  to  seek  to  obtain  for  the  working 
class  in  general,  and  the  railroad  employees  in  particu- 
lar, much-needed  legislation  for  their  benefit.  In  the 
same  year,  on  June  9th,  he  was  married  to  Katherine 
Metzel.  Mrs.  Debs  was  bom  in  Pittsburgh,  but  her 
parents  were  of  Kentucky.  Few  women  have  sacrificed 
their  own  interests  to  their  husband's  ideals  and  work 
as  Mrs.  Debs  has  throughout  all  of  these  years.  Upon 
all  occasions  when  the  labor  movement  or  the  Socialist 
Party  have  claimed  him  for  national  tours  or  separate 
engagements  she  has  yielded  cheerfully  to  their  demands, 
always  with  the  feeling  that  the  world  had  more  claim 
upon  him  than  herself.  In  this  spirit  of  understanding, 
sympathy  and  helpfulness.  Debs  has  had  to  absent 
himself  many  times  from  his  home  and  family  ties  for 
months  at  a  stretch,  returning  sometimes  for  a  few  brief 
hours  or  a  day,  only  to  take  up  again  a  speaking  cam- 
paign, or  the  bitterness  of  a  strike. 

Mrs.  Debs  has  for  many  years  assisted  Eugene  with 
his  vast  correspondence,  keeping  his  scrap-book  up  to 
date,  filing  his  hundreds  of  books,  papers  and  magazine 
articles  in  proper  order  so  that  they  might  be  accessible 
to  him  at  all  times  either  for  writing  articles  or  as  ref- 
erence for  speeches.  Although  they  have  no  children, 
both  are  passionately  fond  of  youngsters,  and  sometimes 
they  have  kept  for  long  periods  the  children  of  their 
immediate  family,  sometimes  those  of  their  neighbors, 
and  once,  about  half  a  dozen  years  ago,  Eugene  and 
Mrs.  Debs  opened  their  home  to  a  young  girl  whose  life 
was  almost  ruined  because  of  an  unhappy  experience 
in  Terre  Haute.  Upon  this  occasion  many  newspapers 
throughout  the  country  hurled  their  epithets  at  him  for 
having  "darkened  his  threshold  with  the  shadow  of  a 
fallen  woman."     These  were  the  same  journals  that, 


124    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

each  Monday  morning,  print  extracts  from  the  sermons 
of  noted  preachers  for  the  delectable  palates  of  their 
readers. 

When  twenty-three  years  old,  Debs  met  Wendell 
Phillips  and  Robert  G.  IngersoU.  Two  years  later,  in 
1880,  he  met  Susan  B.  Anthony.  From  these  early 
meetings  with  those  rebellious,  agnostic  and  pioneer 
spirits  grew  friendly  attachments  which  endured 
throughout  the  life  time  of  all  three.  The  great  ora- 
torical powers  of  IngersoU  and  Phillips  moved  and  in- 
spired Debs  as  nothing  else  had  done  up  to  that  time. 
To  the  very  end  of  Colonel  Ingersoirs  life  he  kept  up 
a  steady  correspondence  with  him  upon  all  vital  ques- 
tions and  was  aided  by  IngersoU 's  suggestions.  In 
those  fallow  years  Debs  was  reading  and  studying,  try- 
ing as  best  he  could  to  make  up  for  the  lack  of  a  decent 
education. 

He  was  a  live  and  an  aggressive  member  of  the  Occi- 
dental Literary  Club  in  Terre  Haute,  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  founders.  He  frequently  took  the  floor  in 
debate  with  older  members,  and  made  speeches  under 
the  club's  auspices  to  ** outsiders '*  who  might  deign  to 
**drop  in.''  He  was  always  attracted  to  persons  who 
stood  out  because  of  their  principles  from  the  apathetic 
multitudes.  He  delights  in  recalling  snatches  of  con- 
versation he  has  had  with  those  lonely  vanguards  of 
movements,  ideas  and  philosophies  which  one  day  may 
be  accepted  by  the  people.  Once  he  referred  to  his  talk 
with  WendeU  PhiUips: 

**  *Debs,  the  world  will  never  know  with  what  bitter 
and  relentless  persecution  the  early  abolitionists  had  to 
contend,'  "  Debs  quoted  him  as  saying.  ** Wendell 
Phillips  was  a  perfect  aristocrat;  a  royal  man,  who  in- 
stantly challenged  respect  and  admiration.  Wendell 
PhiUips  was  treated  as  if  he  had  been  the  worst  felon 
on  earth.     They  went  to  his  house  to  mob  him,  and 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS       125 

why?  Because  he  protested  against  sending  a  fugitive 
Negro  back  into  the  hell  of  slavery.'' 

In  1880  he  persuaded  Susan  B.  Anthony  to  come  to 
Terre  Haute  to  speak  at  a  series  of  meetings  on  the 
question  of  Woman's  Suffrage. 

'*!  can  never  forget  the  first  time  I  met  her,"  he 
wrote  some  years  ago.  **She  impressed  me  as  being  a 
wonderfully  strong  character,  self-reliant,  thoroughly  in 
earnest,  and  utterly  indifferent  to  criticism.  There  was 
never  a  time  in  my  life  when  I  was  opposed  to  the  equal 
suffrage  of  the  sexes.  I  could  never  understand  why 
woman  was  denied  any  right  or  opportunity  that  man 
enjoyed.  Quite  early,  therefore,  I  was  attracted  to  the 
woman  suffrage  movement." 

Debs  became  determined,  with  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Ida 
Husted  Harper,  who  afterward  became  Miss  Anthony's 
biographer,  to  have  the  pioneer  suffragist  speak:  at  Terre 
Haute.  He,  with  a  few  friends,  met  Miss  Anthony  at 
the  railroad  station,  and  walked  with  her  to  a  hotel. 

**I  can  still  see  the  aversion  so  unfeelingly  expressed 
for  this  magnificent  woman.  Even  my  friends  were  dis- 
gusted with  me  for  piloting  such  *an  undesirable  citizen' 
into  the  community.  As  we  walked  along  the  street  I 
was  painfully  aware  that  Miss  Anthony  was  an  object 
of  derision  and  contempt,  and  in  my  heart  I  resented 
it  and  later  I  had  often  to  defend  my  position,  which, 
of  course,  I  was  ready  to  do." 

The  meeting  of  Miss  Anthony  and  her  co-workers  in 
Terre  Haute  were  poorly  attended,  and  all  but  barren 
of  results.  Debs  says  that  people  would  not  come  to  her 
meetings  in  those  days  even  to  satisfy  their  curiosity, 
*'and  it  would  not  have  required  any  great  amount  of 
egging-on  to  have  excited  the  people  to  drive  her  from 
the  community." 

Debs  did  not  see  Miss  Anthony  again  for  a  number 
of  years,  meeting  her  for  the  last  time  at  Rochester,  a 
short  while  before  her  death. 


126    DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

**Her  life  work  was  done  and  her  sun  was  setting/' 
he  wrote.  *'How  beautiful  she  seemed  in  the  quiet 
serenity  of  her  sunset!  Twenty-five  years  before  she 
drank  to  its  dregs  the  bitter  cup  of  persecution,  but  now 
she  stood  upon  the  heights,  a  sad  smiling  light  in  her 
sweet  face,  amidst  the  acclaims  of  her  neighbors  and 
the  plaudits  of  the  world.*' 

Debs  himself  confesses  that  his  powers  of  speech  and 
writing  were  not  due  to  education  or  to  training,  for  he 
had  but  little  of  either. 

"While  a  mere  boy,  firing  a  switch  engine  at  night,  he 
managed  to  attend  a  school  half  a  day  each  day,  sleep- 
ing the  mornings  and  attending  school  afternoons.  From 
his  meager  earnings  he  bought  an  encyclopedia  on  the 
installment  plan,  one  volume  each  month,  and  began 
to  read  and  study  history  and  literature  and  to  devote 
himself  to  grammar  and  composition.  The  revolutionary 
history  of  the  United  States  and  France  stirred  him 
deeply  and  their  heroes  and  martyrs  became  his  idols. 
Thomas  Paine,  he  says,  towered  above  them  all,  and  a 
thousand  times  since  he  has  found  strength  and  in- 
spiration in  the  words  of  Paine,  **  These  are  the  times 
that  try  men's  souls." 

Of  the  intensiveness  of  his  early  studies  he  says  that 
from  the  time  he  began  to  read  with  a  serious  mind, 
feeling  keenly  his  lack  of  knowledge,  he  observed  the 
structure  and  studied  the  composition  of  every  para- 
graph and  every  sentence,  and  when  one  appeared  strik- 
ing to  him,  because  of  its  perfection  of  style  or  phrasing, 
he  would  read  it  a  second  time  or  perhaps  commit  it  to 
memory.  In  all  of  his  reading,  and  it  has  been  volumi- 
nous and  varied,  Debs  has  chosen  such  subjects  and 
topics  as  would  assist  him  to  increase  his  own  powers 
of  expression,  both  oral  and  written,  and  at  the  same 
time  broaden  and  enlighten  him.     He  has  especially 


EARLY  DATS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   127 

stored  away  in  his  mind  the  histories  of  all  the  sufferings 
of  all  races. 

The  schools  he  attended  were  primitive,  and  when  he 
left  them  at  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  could  scarcely 
write  a  grammatical  sentence.  He  supplemented  his 
elemental  education  in  the  ways  indicated  above,  spe- 
cializing, however,  in  the  orations  of  men  who  spoke  in 
advance  of  their  time. 

Patrick  Henry's  revolutionary  speech  claimed  his 
earliest  attention,  and  Robert  Emmet's  immortal  ora- 
tion was  a  great  favorite  and  moved  him  deeply.  Drake 's 
*' American  Flag"  stirred  his  blood,  as  did  also  Schiller's 
^ '  Burgschaf t. "  He  would  often  shut  himself  up  in 
a  room  and  recite  the  speeches  of  these  heroes,  always 
making  sure  that  no  one  was  listening.  Everything  that 
was  revolutionary,  that  spoke  for  the  toilers  and  gave 
voice  to  their  unexpressed  yearnings  appealed  to  his 
imaginative  mind  and  tender  heart.  He  had  a  passion 
for  Patrick  Henry  and  his  burning  defiance  of  King 
George  inspired  the  first  speech  that  Debs  ever  attempted 
to  deliver  in  public. 

This  was  before  the  Occidental  Literary  Club  in  Terre 
Haute.  Debs  loves  to  tell  now  of  how  he  shuddered 
upon  facing  the  crowded  little  room,  and  how  the  cold 
sweat  stood  in  beads  upon  his  brow  when  he  realized 
the  awful  plight  he  had  invited  upon  himself  and  the 
utter  hopelessness  of  escape. 

''The  spectacle  I  made  of  myself  that  evening  will 
never  be  effaced  from  my  memory,  and  the  sympathetic 
assurances  of  my  friends  at  the  close  of  the  exhibition 
did  not  relieve  the  keen  sense  of  humiliation  and  shame 
I  felt  for  the  disgrace  I  had  brought  upon  myself  and 
my  patron  saint.  The  speech  could  not  possibly  have 
been  worse  and  my  mortification  was  complete.  In  my 
heart  I  hoped  most  earnestly  that  my  hero's  spiritual 
ears  were  not  attuned  to  the  affairs  of  this  earth,  at  least 
that  evening. 


128    DEBS—AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Upon  the  invitation  of  the  Department  of  Education 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  under  whose  direction 
there  was  being  conducted  an  investigation  of  the  sub- 
ject of  **  Distinguished  Contemporary  Orators  and  Lec- 
turers, ' '  Debs  contributed  a  paper  entitled,  * '  The  Secret 
of  Efficient  Expression." 

Among  other  things  he  wrote : 

**The  secret  of  efficient  expression  in  oratory — if  se- 
cret it  can  be  properly  called — is  in  having  something 
efficient  to  express  and  being  so  filled  with  it  that  it  ex- 
presses itself.  The  choice  of  words  is  not  important 
since  efficient  expression,  the  result  of  efficient  thinking, 
chooses  its  own  words,  molds  and  fashions  its  own  sen- 
tences, and  creates  a  diction  suited  to  its  own  purposes. 

'*.  .  .  No  man  ever  made  a  great  speech  on  a  mean 
subject.  Slavery  never  inspired  an  immortal  thought  or 
utterance.  Selfishness  is  dead  to  every  art.  The  love 
of  truth  and  the  passion  to  serve  it  light  every  torch 
of  real  eloquence.  Had  Ingersoll  and  Phillips  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  practice  of  law  for  pay  the  divine  fire 
within  them  would  have  burned  to  ashes  and  they  would 
have  died  in  mediocrity. 

**.  .  .  The  highest  there  is  in  oratory  is  the  highest 
there  is  in  truth,  in  honesty,  in  morality.  All  the  vir- 
tues combine  in  expressing  themselves  in  beautiful  words, 
poetic  phrases,  glowing  periods,  and  moving  eloquence. 

*'The  loftiest  peaks  rise  from  the  lowest  depths  and 
their  shining  summits  glorify  their  hidden  foundations. 
The  highest  eloquence  springs  from  the  lowliest  sources 
and  pleads  trumpet-tongued  for  the  children  of  the 
abyss. ' ' 

We  could  not  conclude  this  phase  of  the  life  of  Debs, 
his  early  struggles  and  the  backgrounds  that  bring  his 
portrait  out  in  relief,  without  a  word  about  his  brother, 
Theodore  Debs.  In  fact,  any  record  of  Eugene's  life 
that  omits  Theodore  is,  in  the  final  estimate,  woefully 
incomplete. 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  BACKGROUNDS   129 

Some  years  ago,  Eugene  was  tendered  a  notable  re- 
ception by  his  friends  and  followers  in  Boston.  After 
every  speaker  had  toasted  him,  Horace  Traubel  arose 
and  said  that  no  one  could  really  claim  knowing  Debs 
without  knowing  his  brother  Theodore  and  his  wife. 
Debs  instantly  admitted  the  truth  of  this  statement,  and 
thanked  the  speaker  for  bringing  it  to  the  attention 
of  the  assemblage.  Theodore  has  been  a  tireless  worker, 
for  a  score  of  years  and  more,  by  Eugene's  side.  He 
has  had  no  public  recognition  or  honors,  and  has  never 
sought  any.  Only  those  who  have  come  very  close  to 
Eugene  know  Theodore.  Yet,  behind  almost  every  pub- 
lic career  one  finds  the  sacrificial  hand  and  devoted 
heart.  He  has  managed  nearly  every  one  of  Eugene's 
national  lecture  tours;  he  has  cared  for  him  after  the 
strain  and  stress  of  public  speaking,  actually  putting 
him  to  bed  and  giving  him  quiet  and  comfort  in  prep- 
aration for  the  next  meeting. 

For  a  number  of  years  Theodore  Debs  has  found  it 
necessary  to  maintain  an  office  in  Terre  Haute  for 
handling  Eugene's  enormous  mail.  When  Debs  is  ab- 
sent, Theodore  answers  all  correspondents,  and  they  are 
many.  There  has  always  existed  a  most  complete  com- 
munion and  camaraderie  between  these  two  men,  and 
to  consider  one  without  the  other  would  be  much  like 
appraising  the  value  of  steam  without  considering  the 
engine  from  which  it  issued. 


CHAPTER  VII 
LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK 

THE  year  1893  was  one  of  desolation  and  hopeless- 
ness for  the  wage  earners  of  America.  Due  to  the 
financial  panic  of  that  year,  which  followed  in  the 
train  of  bond  issues  floated  by  the  government  in  an 
effort  to  make  up  the  deficit  due  to  declining  federal 
revenues,  the  workers  were  thrown  out  of  employment 
by  tens  of  thousands  when  factories  closed  and  bank- 
ruptcies were  the  order  of  the  day.  Those  workers  who 
had  managed  to  keep  their  employment  were  receiving 
wages  far  blow  a  decent  living  standard.  Industrial 
unrest  and  chaos  was  widespread.  From  distant  and 
scattered  points  bands  of  unemployed  workers  were 
marching  across  the  country  to  join  the  main  contin- 
gent led  by  ''General"  Jacob  Coxey  headed  for  the 
national  capital  to  seek  redress  for  their  grievances. 
** General"  Coxey  was  arrested  at  Washington.  The 
railroad  workers  of  the  country,  and  those  employed 
by  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company  at  South  Chicago, 
Illinois,  were  affected  by  wage  reductions;  this  created 
a  sullen  temper  among  the  toilers,  not  calculated  to 
produce  confidence  in  or  make  for  the  stability  of  any 
government. 

The  American  Railway  Union  had  been  organized  at 
Chicago  in  June,  1893,  with  Debs  at  the  head  of  the 
organization.  This  was  one  of  the  very  first  attempts  in 
this  country  at  industrial  unionism,  or  **One  Big 
Union,"  a  form  of  organization  which  has  come  to  be 
looked  upon  by  a  large  number  of  workers  in  this  and 
other  countries  as  a  most  efficacious  method  of  gaining 

130 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK      131 

quick  results  in  the  furtherance  of  their  industrial  and 
economic  programs.  To  have  thought  of,  much  less 
fathered,  such  a  program  in  those  days  was  tantamount 
to  stamping  one's  self  an  anarchist  and  inviting  derision 
from  the  conservative  press  and  public. 

On  April  13,  1894,  the  strike  was  called  on  the  Great 
Northern  Railroad,  and  lasted  eighteen  days.  On  April 
16,  members  of  the  American  Railway  Union  received  a 
circular  letter  containing  the  scale  of  wages  paid  on 
the  Great  Northern  lines,  and  showed  that  train  dis- 
patchers were  receiving  $80  per  month;  freight  con- 
ductors, $78;  freight  brakemen,  $42  to  $53;  engineers, 
in  some  instances,  $2.80  per  day;  inspectors,  $35  per 
month;  operators,  $37.50  to  $41.50;  roundhousmen,  $1 
per  day ;  trackmen  and  truckmen,  $1  per  day.  Paralleled 
with  this  scale  of  wages  it  was  shown  that  in  many  rail- 
road centers,  Butte,  Montana,  for  instance,  the  cheapest 
board  was  $26  per  month.  The  officials  of  the  Great 
Northern  soon  learned  of  the  circular  sent  to  its  em- 
ployees, and  at  once  sent  out  a  cipher  dispatch  to  its 
superintendents  and  managers  to  remove  all  agitators 
and  those  known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  the  A.  R.  U. 
Debs  and  his  co-officials  learned  of  this  step  taken  by  the 
railroad  to  break  down  the  morale  of  the  men,  and  the 
strike  was  speedily  called.  The  railroad  was  given  no 
time  to  prepare  a  counter  offensive.  From  the  Butte 
headquarters  of  the  A.  R.  U.  came  the  appeal  to  the 
men,  couched  in  the  following  vein : 

**We  need  your  financial  and  moral  support  every- 
where. It  is  the  greatest  strike  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
Give  us  your  moral  and  financial  support  through  the 
general  office  at  Chicago.  Act  quickly.  See  if  we  can- 
not break  the  chains  that  are  being  forged  to  reduce  us, 
not  only  to  slavery,  but  to  starvation." 

This  appeal  was  all  that  was  required  to  enlist  the 
full  and  hearty  support  of  the  railroad  workers.     In 


132    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

many  ways  they  pledged  to  their  leaders  their  loyalty 
to  the  A.  R.  U. 

On  April  13,  C.  W.  Case,  general  manager  of  the 
Great  Northern  lines,  received  the  following  letter  from 
the  A.  R.  U. : 

**I  am  instructed  by  your  employees  to  say  that  unless 
the  scale  of  wages  and  rules  of  classes  of  employees 
that  were  in  effect  prior  to  the  first  cut  made  August  1, 
1893,  are  restored  and  switchmen  at  Great  Falls  and 
Helena  receive  the  same  pay  and  schedules  as  at  Butte 
and  the  management  agrees  to  meet  the  representatives 
of  the  employees  at  Minot  not  later  than  ten  days  hence 
and  formulate  schedules  accordingly,  all  classes  of  em- 
ployees will  quit  work  at  12  o'clock  noon  this  13th  day 
of  April.'' 

The  late  James  J.  Hill,  owner  of  the  Great  Northern, 
and  for  many  years  before  his  death  called  ' '  the  empire 
builder"  because  of  bis  vast  railroad  and  financial  in- 
terests in  the  northwest,  was  taken  completely  unawares. 
He  instructed  his  managers  to  issue  appeals  to  the  men 
to  remain  loyal  to  the  company  and  promised  them 
rapid  promotion  if  they  would  but  turn  their  faces 
from  the  American  Railway  Union.  On  April  22,  Debs, 
as  president  of  the  A.  R.  U.,  and  George  W.  Howard, 
as  vice-president,  addressed  a  large  meeting  of  railroad 
workers  in  St.  Paul,  where  the  general  offices  of  the 
Great  Northern  were  located  and  the  home  city  of 
James  J.  Hill.  As  a  result  of  that  meeting  the  A.  R.  U. 
added  225  members.  With  imminent  defeat  staring  him 
in  the  face,  Mr.  Hill  called  a  conference  of  a  few  rail- 
road managers  and  labor  leaders,  the  main  theme  of  his 
talk  to  them  being  that  he  would  offer  arbitration. 
When  Mr.  Hill  had  concluded,  a  tall,  gaunt  man  arose 
in  the  back  of  the  council  chamber.  Moving  slowly  to  the 
front  where  Mr.  Hill  sat  the  man  began  to  speak.  It 
was  Debs.    These  were  his  words: 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     133 

**Let  me  say  that  we  do  not  accept  the  proposition. 
Efforts  have  been  made  ever  since  this  trouble  started  to 
divide  the  organization  and  make  trouble  between  the 
Union  and  the  Brotherhoods.  I  understand  such  to  be 
the  policy  of  this  company. 

**Now,  if  the  other  organizations  represent  the  men, 
let  them  set  your  wheels  turning.  Our  men  will  not 
go  back  to  work.  My  idea  is  that  in  raising  the  ques- 
tion of  representation  you  have  sought  to  evade  the 
issue.  We  presented  the  terms  upon  which  we  would 
go  to  work.  I  am  authorized  to  say  that  we  will  settle 
on  these  terms  and  on  no  others.  This  grievance  is  a 
universal  grievance  and  all  the  men  are  united  in  this 
action.  It  will  be  to  no  avail  to  attempt  to  divide  us 
into  factions.  If  wages  are  not  restored  you  can  no 
longer  have  the  service  of  the  men.  For  the  past  week 
we  have  restrained  the  men  from  leaving  your  employ. 
Now,  understand  me  that  I  am  too  much  of  a  gentleman 
to  make  a  threat  and  I  do  not  mean  this  as  anything 
but  a  plain  statement  of  fact,  but  if  there  is  no  adjust- 
ment, those  men  will  withdraw  from  your  service  in  a 
body.  They  are  convinced  that  their  demand  is  a  just 
one.  If  their  request  is  not  complied  with  they  will, 
without  regard  to  consequences,  continue  this  struggle 
on  the  lines  already  laid  down  and  fight  it  out  with  all 
the  means  at  their  command  within  the  limits  of  the  law. 
We  understand  your  position ;  you  understand  ours.  We 
will  not  withdraw  from  this  conference.  We  shall  be 
in  the  city  several  days  and  shall  be  glad  to  receive  any 
further  communications  from  you." 

Failing  completely  to  break  the  strike,  reduce  the 
morale  of  his  employees,  or  to  bargain  with  Debs  for  a 
compromised  settlement,  Mr.  Hill  next  enlisted  the  aid 
of  Knute  Nelson,  then  governor  of  Minnesota,  now 
United  States  Senator.  Debs  told  me  how  Governor 
Nelson  had  sent  for  him  to  come  to  his  executive  of- 
fices.   Debs  went  and  was  kept  waiting  in  the  office  of 


134    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

the  Governor  for  many  minutes,  the  Governor  being  pres- 
ent, giving  no  sign  of  knowing  that  Debs  was  in  the 
room. 

Finally,  Governor  Nelson  approached  Debs  with  the 
inquiry,  *'Do  you  wish  to  see  me?'' 

**No,  Governor,  I  do  not  wish  to  see  you,  but  you 
have  indicated  your  wish  to  see  me,  and  here  I  am," 
Debs  replied. 

*  *  So  you  are  Eugene  V.  Debs, ' '  Governor  Nelson  said, 
backing  off  and  surveying  the  tall  figure  before  him 
from  head  to  foot.  Debs  said  the  Governor  at  once 
launched  into  a  livid  denunciation  of  him,  employing 
frequent  use  of  such  epithets  as  ** agitator, ' '  ''for- 
eigner," ''anarchist,"  and  so  on,  and  wound  up  by 
harshly  condemning  him  for  "stirring  up  strife  among 
peaceful  and  contented  workingmen." 

' '  When  he  had  finished, ' '  Debs  said,  relating  the  story, 
"his  face  was  purple  and  I  thought  he  might  succumb 
to  his  anger.  'Now,  Governor,  I  have  listened  to  all  you 
have  had  to  say, '  I  remarked.  '  Are  you  through  ? '  Nel- 
son said  he  was. 

"  'Well,  then,  for  the  first  time  in  your  life  look  into 
the  eyes  of  a  man/  "  Debs  said  he  explained  to  the 
Governor  very  briefly  and  tersely  the  issues  of  the  strike 
and  concluded  with: 

"I  have  never  in  my  life  worn  the  collar  of  a  pluto- 
crat, nor  jumped  like  a  jack  when  he  pulled  the  string 
as  you  have  done  for  Mr.  Hill.  Now,  Governor,  I  know 
something  about  railroads,  and  you  may,  with  my  con- 
sent, take  the  B  Line  and  go  to  hell. '  I  left  him  standing 
in  the  middle  of  his  executive  chamber,"  Debs  con- 
cluded. This  little  incident  of  the  A.  R.  U.  strike  he 
related  while  going  to  Moundsville  prison. 

The  Great  Northern  strike  was  won  in  eighteen  days 
and  not  one  drop  of  human  blood  was  shed.  It  was  the 
first  signal  victory  achieved  by  the  workers  in  this  coun- 
try standing  together,  united,  for  their  demands,  and 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     135 

the  result  heartened  the  forces  of  labor  allied  with  other 
trades  and  revived  their  spirits  which  had  been  all  but 
annihilated  after  the  Haymarket  riots  and  hangings 
seven  years  before. 

Debs  returned  to  his  home  in  Terre  Haute  on  May 
3,  1894,  and  four  thousand  of  his  friends,  neighbors, 
men,  women  and  children,  greeted  him  with  shouts  and 
music.  He  addressed  his  fellow  citizens  in  a  public  park, 
near  the  Terre  Haute  House.  A  carriage  had  been 
provided  for  him  to  ride  in  from  his  home  to  the  park, 
but  Debs  chose  to  walk  amid  the  shouting  throng.  We 
shall  set  down  here  only  the  salient  points  of  his  address 
on  that  occasion: 

*'.  .  .  The  contest  on  the  Great  Northern  system  has 
no  parallel  in  the  history  of  railroad  trouble.  From  the 
hour  the  strike  commenced  the  men  were  united;  they 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder — engineers,  firemen,  brake- 
men,  conductors,  switchmen,  and  even  the  trackmen  and 
freight  handlers,  who  are  generally  first  to  suffer,  stood 
up  as  one  man  and  asserted  their  manhood. 

"One  of  the  remarkable  features,  very  remarkable,  in 
the  contest,  was  the  good  feeling  which  prevailed  during 
the  eighteen  days  of  the  strike,  and  the  good  feeling 
lasted  during  the  trying  and  anxious  hours  of  arbitra- 
tion. I  am  glad,  my  friends,  to  be  able  to  say  to  you  to- 
night, that  in  all  those  eighteen  days  there  was,  from  one 
end  of  the  Great  Northern  road  to  the  other,  not  a 
single  drop  of  human  blood  spilled.  The  American 
spirit  of  fair  play  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  of  the 
manly  men  who  were  involved  in  the  trouble,  and  their 
fight  for  wages  was  conducted  without  rowdyism  or 
lawlessness.  The  reduction  on  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 
way was  without  cause.  In  resisting  it,  the  employees 
met  solidly  organized  capital  face  to  face,  and  man  to 
man,  and  for  eighteen  days  not  a  pound  of  freight  was 
moved  and  not  a  wheel  turned,  with  the  exception  of  mail 
trains.     As  a  result  of  this  unification,  this  show  of 


136    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

manliness  and  courage  on  the  part  of  the  employees,  they 
gained  971/2  per  cent,  of  what  they  claimed  as  their 
rights. 

''The  arbitration  of  the  differences  was  entrusted 
into  the  hands  of  fourteen  representative  business  men 
of  the  Twin  Cities,  with  Charles  Pillsbury,  the  merchant 
miller  prince,  as  chairman.  The  preliminaries  leading 
up  to  that  memorable  meeting  of  arbitration  covered 
many  weary  hours,  but  once  in  session  and  facing  the 
great  question  of  wages  of  thousands  of  men,  these  four- 
teen men,  all  of  whom  were  men  of  capital  and  employers 
of  labor,  reached  a  verdict  in  one  hour,  a  verdict  for  the 
employees,  by  which  $146,000  more  money  will  monthly 
be  distributed  among  the  deserving  wage  earners  than 
would  have  been  had  they  not  stood  up  for  what  they 
knew  to  be  justly  theirs. 

*'My  glory,  my  friends,  consists  in  the  gladness  which 
I  know  will  be  brought  into  the  little  cottage  homes 
of  the  humble  trackmen  among  the  hills  in  the  west.  I 
-san  almost  see  the  looks  of  gratitude  on  the  faces  of 
these  men's  wives  and  little  children.  In  all  my  life  I 
have  never  felt  so  highly  honored  as  I  did  when  leaving 
St.  Paul  on  my  way  home.  As  our  train  pulled  out  of 
the  yards  the  tokens  of  esteem,  which  I  prize  far  more 
highly  than  all  others,  was  in  seeing  the  old  trackmen, 
men  whose  frames  were  bent  with  years  of  grinding 
toil,  who  receive  the  pittance  of  from  80  cents  to  $1  a 
day,  leaning  on  their  shovels  and  lifting  their  hats  to 
me  in  appreciation  of  my  humble  assistance  in  a  cause 
which  they  believed  had  resulted  in  a  betterment  of  their 
miserable   existence.  ..." 

As  so  often  happens  in  times  of  industrial  strife,  the 
demonstration  of  solidarity  plus  victory  of  the  American 
Railway  Union  over  the  Great  Northern  system,  brought 
renewed  hope  and  inspiration  to  the  workers  in  kindred 
and  other  trades,  and  two  months  after  the  Great  North- 
em  strike  the  workers  of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Com- 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     137 

pany,  at  South  Chicago,  Illinois,  now  Pullman,  went 
out.    This  was  in  June,  1894. 

The  American  Railway  Union  officials,  against  the 
advice  of  Debs,  decided  again  to  call  a  strike  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Pullman  workers.  "Debs  believed  that 
the  abnormal  and  unfavorable  conditions  raised  too 
many  obstacles  against  success,"  wrote  James  Oneal 
in  the  New  York  Call  Magazine,  July  7,  1918.  "How- 
ever, the  decision  was  against  his  advice  and,  taking  his 
orders  from  the  organization,  he  entered  into  the  strug- 
gle with  all  his  might.  A  number  of  railroads  were  tied 
up,  others  were  partially  crippled  and  the  union  achieved 
a  larger  measure  of  success  than  even  the  optimistic  had 
dreamed  of." 

The  second  A.  R.  U.  strike  was  so  widespread  and  dev- 
astated the  profits  of  the  railroad  owners  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  magnates  of  that  period  resolved  to  an- 
nihilate the  American  Railway  Union  root  and  branch 
and  imprison  its  leaders.  For  this  purpose  the  admin- 
istration of  President  Grover  Cleveland  was  prevailed 
upon  to  begin  prosecutions  against  Debs  and  his  co- 
officials  of  the  A.  R.  U.  The  federal  courts  were  not 
used  for  this  purpose,  however,  until  after  President 
Cleveland  had  ordered  out  the  federal  troops  to  go  to 
Chicago  "to  preserve  order  and  protect  private  prop- 
erty." As  to  the  manner  in  which  the  United  States 
soldiers  of  that  period  executed  their  orders  from  the 
federal  government  we  shall  deal  later,  for  the  record 
has  been  fully  set  down  in  the  minutes  of  the  meetings 
of  the  commission  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  in 
the  summer  of  1895  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  Chi- 
cago strike.  It  appears  that  President  Cleveland  sent 
federal  troops  into  Chicago  primarily  to  see  that  the 
strikers  did  not  interfere  with  the  movement  of  mail 
trains  or  molest  their  crews.  John  P.  Altgeld,  then 
Governor  of  Illinois,  protested  to  Washington  against  the 
sending  of  federal  soldiers  into  Chicago  and  the  state, 


138    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

claiming  that  the  regular  police  force  was  sufficient  and 
competent  to  handle  whatever  situation  might  arise. 
His  protest  was  ignored. 

One  of  Debs's  most  bitter  opponents  during  the 
A.  R.  U.  strike  was  John  R.  Walsh,  then  a  powerful 
Chicago  banker  and  a  rising  figure  in  the  financial 
world.  He  had  acquired  a  newspaper,  the  Chicaga 
Chronicle,  to  assist  him  in  his  ascendency  toward  the 
white  light  of  fame.  About  ten  or  twelve  years  after 
the  A.  R.  U.  strike  Walsh  was  sent  to  the  Joliet  Peni- 
tentiary, Illinois,  as  a  bank  wrecker.  Petitions  were  cir- 
culated by  his  friends  for  his  release  from  prison  so 
that  he  might  die  on  the  outside. 

Judge  Peter  S.  Grosscup,  of  the  federal  district  court 
in  Chicago,  played  an  important  role  in  the  labor  drama 
of  that  period.  Judge  W.  W.  Woods  was  called  upon  to 
sit  in  the  * '  conspiracy  trial ' '  growing  out  of  the  Pullman 
strike,  through  which  the  Railroad  Managers'  Associa- 
tion of  that'  period  hoped  to  send  Debs  to  prison  for 
life.  Some  years  ago  Judge  Woods  died,  * '  and  the  world 
now  does  not  know  that  he  ever  lived,''  said  Debs  in 
referring  to  him. 

E.  St.  John  was  chairman  of  the  Railroad  Managers' 
Association  of  that  period.  It  is  said  that  he  had  a 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  suc- 
cessful of  all  the  managers.  He  had  claimed  that  the 
American  Railway  Union  and  Debs  could  not  disturb 
the  operation  of  the  Rock  Island  railroad,  but  when  the 
strike  came,  the  Rock  Island  was  tied  up  tight  from  one 
end  of  the  system  to  the  other. 

Such  were  the  characters  who  played  their  parts  in 
one  of  the  greatest  labor  dramas  this  country  has  ever 
known.  Some  are  asleep  to-day  in  graves  forgotten 
by  all  save  their  immediate  friends  and  relatives,  while 
others  have  been  reduced  to  the  level  of  mediocrity  and 
impotency.  Since  then,  with  every  passing  year,  Eugene 
V.  Debs  has  mounted  one  rung  after  another  of  the  lad- 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     139 

der  and  to-day,  even  though  he  is  in  prison,  he  is  by  all 
odds  one  of  the  most  powerful  public  figures  in  America. 

A  special  grand  jury  was  impaneled  in  the  United 
States  District  Court  of  Northern  Illinois  on  July  10, 
1894.  Judge  Grosscup  instructed  the  jury  concerning' 
the  crimes  of  insurrection,  conspiracy,  etc.,  and  the  jury 
then  set  to  work  to  consider  whatever  evidence  might 
be  brought  to  its  attention  concerning  the  activities  of 
the  American  Railway  Union  and  the  Pullman  strike. 
The  late  Richard  Olney,  then  attorney  general  in  Presi- 
dent Cleveland's  cabinet,  had  appointed  Edwin  Walker, 
an  attorney  in  the  employ  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  St.  Paul  Railroad,  special  counsel  to  assist  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Debs  case.  Mr.  Walker  and  Attorney 
Wright,  of  the  Rock  Island  system,  were  in  attendance 
during  the  deliberations  of  the  grand  jury. 

E.  M.  Mulford,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, was  the  sole  witness  examined  by  the  grand  jury, 
and  he  had  produced  for  the  jurors  copies  of  telegrams^ 
sent  from  the  headquarters  of  the  A.  R.  U.  and  those 
received  by  the  strikers'  officials.  With  no  further  evi- 
dence than  these  copies  of  telegrams,  and  without  further 
preliminaries  the  grand  jury  returned  indictments 
against  four  officials  of  the  American  Railway  Union. 
These  were  Debs,  president;  George  W.  Howard,  vice- 
president;  Sylvester  Kelliher,  secretary;  and  L.  W. 
Rogers,  director  and  editor  of  the  Bwilway  Times.  With- 
in ten  minutes  after  Judge  Grosscup  received  the  in- 
dictments warrants  were  drawn  for  the  arrest  of  Debs 
and  his  co-officials.  A  raid  was  promptly  made  upon 
the  A.  R.  U.  headquarters,  all  books,  blank  books,  papers 
and  correspondence  of  the  union  seized  and  other  office 
paraphernalia  confiscated  by  the  raiders.  The  private 
mail  of  President  Debs  was  seized  but  this  was  returned 
to  him  the  following  day  by  order  of  the  court. 

The  four  men  were  re-arrested  on  July  17  for  con- 
tempt of  court  on  the  petition  of  Special  Counsel  Walker,. 


140    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

who  alleged  violation  of  the  restraining  injunction  which 
had  been  issued  by  Judges  Grosscup  and  Woods.  This 
was  in  many  respects  the  most  astonishing  injunction 
ever  issued  from  a  federal  bench,  since  by  it  it  became  a 
crime  to  use  persuasion  on  workingmen  to  join  a  strike. 
Neither  President  Debs  nor  his  three  colleagues  would 
consent  to  give  bail  and  the  four  men  were  sent  to  Cook 
County  Jail,  in  Chicago,  where  they  remained  until  July 
23.  On  that  day  the  A.  R.  U.  lawyers  moved  for  a  dis- 
missal of  the  contempt  proceedings,  arguing  that  they 
were  virtually  for  the  same  offense  charged  in  the  indict- 
ment, and  that  no  man  could  be  tried  twice  on  the  same 
charge.  This  motion  was  denied  by  the  court,  and  the 
plea  of  the  four  defendants  for  a  trial  by  a  jury  met 
with  the  same  fate.  Everything  seemed  to  indicate  that 
the  cards  were  stacked. 

The  directors  of  the  A.  R.  U.  were  included  in  the 
proceedings  later  through  the  filing  of  a  supplemental 
information  in  the  contempt  case.  Originally  sixty-nine 
persons  were  named  in  the  omnibus  indictments  for 
conspiracy  to  obstruct  the  United  States  mails,  but  before 
the  case  went  to  trial  the  government  attorneys  entered 
a  nolle  pros,  as  to  a  number  of  defendants,  leaving  forty- 
five  to  answer  to  the  charges  against  them  on  January 
8,  1895.  There  were  seven  indictments  against  Presi- 
dent Debs,  Vice-President  Howard  and  Editor  Rogers, 
and  three  indictments  each  against  the  full  board  of 
directors  of  the  American  Railway  Union.  President 
Debs  and  his  three  colleagues  were  placed  under  $25,000 
bonds  in  all  of  the  conspiracy  indictments,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  omnibus  indictment.  Debs  and  the 
A.  R.  U.  officials  were  represented  in  court  by  S.  S. 
Gregory  and  Clarence  S.  Darrow,  and  John  J.  Hanahan 
was  represented  by  Thomas  W.  Harper,  of  Terre  Haute. 
The  government  was  represented  by  Edwin  Walker,  an 
attorney  in  the  employ  of  the  railroad  managers,  and 
named  special  attorney  general  by  Attorney  General 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     141 

Olney;  District  Attorney  J.  C.  Black,  and  his  predeces- 
sor, T.  B.  Milchrist. 

Upon  the  opening  of  court  Attorney  Gregory  objected 
to  the  presence  of  Mr.  Walker  as  representative  of  the 
government  on  the  ground  that  he  was  at  that  time  in 
the  employ  of  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul 
railroad,  but  the  court  did  not  consider  there  was  any- 
thing irregular  or  unusual  about  that. 

MR.  DARROW  ARGUES  FOR  DEFENSE 

"Men  have  a  right  to  strike,"  said  Attorney  Milchrist 
in  his  opening  remarks  to  the  jury,  eight  of  whom  were 
farmers,  one  an  insurance  agent,  one  a  real  estate 
dealer,  one  a  painting  and  decorating  contractor,  and 
one  a  dealer  in  agricultural  implements. 

''If  this  is  so,  it  ends  this  case,"  replied  Mr.  Darrow 
in  his  opening  address. 

Darrow  argued  that  there  was  a  statute  which  made 
the  obstruction  of  a  mail  car  punishable  by  a  fine  of 
$100,  yet  ''in  order  to  make  felons  of  honest  men,  who 
never  had  a  criminal  thought,  they  passed  by  that 
statute  to  seize  on  one  that  makes  conspiracy  to  obstruct 
the  mails  a  crime  punishable  by  imprisonment  in  the 
penitentiary.  To  hound  these  men  into  the  penitentiary 
is  their  purpose,  yet  they  call  this  respect  for  law.  Con- 
spiracy from  the  days  of  tyranny  in  England  down  to 
the  day  the  General  Managers'  Association  used  it  as  a 
club  has  been  the  favorite  weapon  of  every  tyrant.  It  is 
an  effort  to  punish  the  crime  of  thought.  If  the  govern- 
ment does  not,  we  shall  try  to  get  the  General  Managers 
here  to  tell  what  they  know  about  it.  .  .  . 

"These  defendants  published  to  all  the  world  what 
they  were  doing,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  widespread 
strike  they  were  never  so  busy  but  that  they  found 
time  to  counsel  against  violence.  For  this  they  are 
brought  into  a  court  by  an  organization  which  uses 


142    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

the  government  as  a  cloak  to  conceal  its  infamous  pur- 
poses." 

Hundreds  of  telegrams,  all  signed  by  Debs,  were  placed 
in  evidence,  and  they  showed  plainly  that  Debs  had 
cautioned  the  various  A.  R.  U.  delegates  and  organizers 
on  the  different  railroad  lines  against  the  use  of  violence 
in  any  form. 

Following  is  a  copy  of  one  of  the  telegrams  read  to 
the  jury  and  which  became  a  part  of  the  record: 

''July  16,  1894. 
*'C.  S.  McAuLiFFE,  Wisconsin. 

*'We  have  assurances  that  within  48  hours  every 
labor  organization  will  come  to  our  rescue.  The  tide 
is  on  and  the  men  are  acquitting  themselves  likes  heroes. 
Here  and  there  one  weakens,  but  our  cause  is  strength- 
ened by  others  going  out  in  their  places.  Every  true 
man  must  go  out  and  remain  out  until  the  fight  is  over ; 
there  must  be  no  half-way  ground.  Our  cause  is  gaining 
ground  daily  and  our  success  is  only  a  question  of  a 
few  days.  Don't  falter  in  this  hour  but  proclaim  your 
manhood.  Labor  must  win  now  or  never.  Our  victory 
will  be  certain  and  complete.  Whatever  happens  don't 
give  any  credence  to  rumors  and  newspaper  reports. 

''E.  Y.  Debs." 

It  was  admitted  that  copies  of  the  telegram  just  quoted 
were  sent  to  forty  points.  After  the  federal  troops  had 
been  sent  into  the  strike  zones  Debs  sponsored  telegrams 
to  be  sent  to  his  lieutenants  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try like  the  following: 

*  *  To  call  out  the  troops  was  an  old  method  for  intimi- 
dation. Commit  no  violence.  Have  every  man  stand  pat. 
Troops  cannot  move  trains.  Not  scabs  enough  in  the 
world  to  fill  places,  and  more  help  accruing  hourly. ' ' 

There  were  more  than  9,000  telegrams  sent  out  by 
the  A.  R.  U.  officials  during  the  strike,  but  not  more 
than  150  were  read  to  the  jury.  When  the  most  im- 
portant of  these  messages  had  been  entered  upon  the 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     143 

record  the  government  put  on  the  witness  stand  B. 
Thomas,  president  of  the  Chicago  and  Western  Indiana 
Railway  company.  He  testified  as  to  the  formation  of 
the  General  Managers'  Association,  stating  that  it  was 
organized  April  20,  1886,  and  that  its  purpose  was  to 
consider  matters  relating  to  railroad  management  and 
wages.  Mr.  Thomas  admitted  that  the  managers  had 
agreed  to  act  as  a  unit  in  resisting  petitions  from  the 
railroad  employees  for  increases  in  wages.  He  further 
admitted  that  a  number  of  agencies  had  been  established 
at  strategic  points  in  the  country  where  men  could  be 
quickly  assembled  to  take  the  places  of  strikers.  The 
expenses  of  the  association  were  apportioned  among  the 
several  railway  systems  that  supported  it,  he  testified. 

When  Mr.  Thomas  had  completed  his  testimony  Mr. 
Darrow  read  to  the  jury  from  the  minutes  of  a  meeting 
of  the  Association  on  August  31,  1893,  that  a  general 
combination  of  railroad  managers  throughout  the  coun- 
try was  highly  desirable,  and  a  committee  of  five  was 
named  to  carry  this  idea  into  effect.  The  object  of  this 
combination,  the  minutes  stated,  was  to  regulate  wages 
and  make  them  uniform  on  the  various  competitive  rail- 
road systems. 

On  September  21,  1893,  the  Association  met  again 
and  passed  a  resolution  regretting  that  it  had  become 
necessary  for  the  railroad  companies  to  reduce  the  wages 
of  their  employees  generally.  Mr.  Darrow  likewise  read 
the  above  minute  to  the  jury. 

On  February  6,  1895,  there  was  an  air  of  expectancy 
in  the  courtroom  when  Debs  was  called  to  take  the  wit- 
ness stand.  He  told  briefly  of  his  early  life,  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen,  and 
stated  that  more  than  four  million  dollars  had  passed 
through  his  hands  while  he  was  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  organization.  Then  he  followed  with  a  brief 
history  of  the  labor  union  development  of  railway  em- 
ployees, and  of  his  joining  the  American  Railway  Union 


144    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

when  it  was  founded  in  1893.  Asked  by  government 
counsel  what  the  object  of  the  A.  R.  U.  was,  Debs  re- 
plied : 

*'A  unification  of  all  railroad  employees  for  their 
mutual  benefit  and  protection." 

He  stated  that  with  the  concentration  of  the  smaller 
railroads  into  the  larger  ones,  which  had  been  taking 
place  for  twenty  years,  and  the  subsequent  gradual  re- 
duction of  wages  of  the  men  in  all  departments,  it  was 
the  only  logical  step  when  they  decided  to  organize  them- 
selves into  one  union  that  would  embrace  and  include 
them  all,  as  it  had  been  demonstrated  that  the  men 
could  gain  little  of  permanent  or  tangible  value  when 
they  were  organized  along  craft  or  trade  lines.  Debs 
said  that  when  the  strike  was  called  on  the  Great  North- 
em  system  the  A.  R.  U.  had  a  membership  of  150,000. 

Prior  to  the  advent  of  the  American  Railway  Union, 
Debs  testified,  there  were  several  railroad  organizations, 
and  that  they  had  been  at  odds  for  a  long  time.  The 
same  classes  of  men  were  eligible  to  the  various  organi- 
zations, and  the  Railroad  Managers'  Association  seized 
upon  this  situation  to  play  one  organization  against  an- 
other, thus  creating  factionalism  between  the  employees 
and  keeping  down  the  scale  of  wages.  It  was  this  con- 
dition that  led  to  the  formation  of  the  '  *  One  Big  Union ' ' 
of  all  railroad  employees — the  American  Railway  Union 
— which  was,  in  fact,  one  of  the  first  attempts  in  this 
country  at  industrial  unionism  instead  of  craft  organi- 
zation. The  A.  R.  U.,  like  the  Western  Federation  of 
Miners,  which  latter  organization  came  into  being  about 
the  same  time,  was  one  of  the  forerunners  of  the  In- 
dustrial Workers  of  the  World,  whose  hundred  and  more 
leaders  and  organizers  are  now  in  Leavenworth  Federal 
Prison  and  other  penal  institutions  for  violation  of  the 
Espionage  Law,  the  very  same  statute  upon  which  Debs 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  ten  years'  imprisonment. 

Debs  first  learned  of  the  strike  conditions  at  Pullman, 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     145 

he  testified,  when  he  returned  from  St.  Paul  to  his  home 
in  Terre  Haute  in  May,  1894.  Asked  if  the  strike  was 
brought  on  by  his  advice  he  replied: 

*'No,  it  was  done  contrary  to  my  advice.  I  first  went 
to  Pullman  on  the  14th  of  May,  after  the  strike  occurred, 
and  stayed  there  part  of  that  day  and  evening.  I  went 
again  on  May  18th."  Debs  explained  that  he  had  in- 
vestigated the  conditions  at  Pullman  by  talking  with 
the  workers  and  their  families,  and  other  sources.  He 
also  talked  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carwardine,  who  had  held 
a  pulpit  in  Pullman  for  three  years,  and  who  said  he 
knew  at  first  hand  of  the  oppressive  industrial  condi- 
tions under  which  the  men  toiled. 

'  *  The  result  of  the  investigation  was  that  I  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Pullman  company  was  in  the  wrong ; 
that  wages  had  been  unjustifiably  reduced  below  the 
living  point  and  that  rents  were  much  too  high  in  com- 
parison with  what  was  charged  for  the  same  class  of 
dwellings  elsewhere."  At  this  point  Judge  Grosscup 
would  not  permit  Debs  to  tell  the  jury  of  the  actual 
living  conditions  of  the  people  at  Pullman. 

The  convention  of  the  A.  R.  U.  was  held  in  Chicago 
on  June  12,  1894,  he  said,  and  was  attended  by  425 
delegates  from  nearly  every  state  in  the  country.  The 
meetings  were  open  and  newspaper  reporters  were  pres- 
ent at  all  sessions,  except  one  executive  session,  which 
was  called  to  consider  the  financial  affairs  of  the  Union. 
This  convention  voted  $2,000  of  the  Union's  funds  to 
be  paid  over  to  the  Relief  Committee  at  Pullman,  and 
the  money  was  used  to  assist  the  distressed  families  of 
the  Pullman  strikers. 

There  were  delegates  at  this  convention.  Debs  said, 
who  spoke  of  the  situation  at  Pullman,  and  finally  a  mo- 
tion was  made  to  declare  a  boycott  against  the  Pullman 
cars  and  instructing  railway  men  against  hauling  them. 
Debs  testified  that  as  chairman  of  the  convention  he  de- 
clined to  entertain  the  motion,  as  he  believed  the  Pull- 


146    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

man  situation  was  a  very  serious  matter,  and  that  no 
action  should  be  taken  hastily  or  until  every  means 
toward  a  decent  settlement  had  been  exhausted.  He 
urged  the  convention  to  appoint  a  committee  to  try  to 
settle  the  Pullman  strike  by  arbitration  and  thus  avert 
a  general  strike  that  would  involve  the  A.  R.  U.  That 
committee  was  appointed  and  on  June  16  it  reported  to 
the  A.  R.  U.  officials  that  the  Pullman  company  posi- 
tively refused  to  confer  with  any  members  of  the 
A.  R.  U.,  and  would  seek  to  adjust  its  troubles  with  the 
Pullman  employees  themselves  as  individuals.  They  ab- 
solutely declined  to  recognize  a  union  of  their  men. 

Another  committee,  composed  entirely  of  Pullman 
employees,  called  on  Mr.  Wicks,  vice-president  of  the 
Pullman  Company,  and  they  reported  back  to  the 
strikers  that  Mr.  Wicks  had  told  them  the  company 
**had  nothing  to  arbitrate,"  and  that  he  regarded  the 
strikers  **as  men  on  the  sidewalk,  so  far  as  their  rela- 
tions with  the  Pullman  Company  was  concerned." 

Continuing  his  testimony.  Debs  said  that  a  few  days 
later  Rev.  Mr.  Carwardine  addressed  the  A.  R.  U.  Con- 
vention, told  of  the  living  conditions  of  the  workers  at 
Pullman,  and  pleaded  with  the  convention  to  ''act 
quickly  in  the  name  of  God  and  humanity." 

The  convention  immediately  considered  a  resolution  to 
declare  a  boycott  against  Pullman  cars,  and  appointed 
a  committee  to  notify  the  Pullman  Company  that 
unless  they  agreed  to  arbitrate  their  differences  with 
their  men  the  boycott  would  become  effective  at  noon 
of  June  26th.  The  committee  visited  Mr.  Wicks,  and 
reported  that  he  was  still  obdurate.  Debs  was  asked  if 
he  had  ever  counseled  violence  or  lawlessness  on  the 
part  of  strikers  or  workingmen. 

''Never  in  my  life  have  I  broken  the  law  or  advised 
others  to  do  so,"  he  replied. 

When  Debs  had  concluded  his  testimony,  United  States 
Deputy  Marshal  Jones  reported  to  the  court  that  he  had 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     147 

made  diligent  but  futile  search  for  George  M.  Pullman. 
**  Nobody  seems  to  know  the  exact  whereabouts  of  that 
gentleman,"  were  his  words  to  the  court.  The  judge 
then  sent  for  Mr.  Johnson,  one  of  Mr.  Pullman's  office 
subordinates,  Mr.  Johnson  testified  that  he  had  taken 
Deputy  Jones's  card  into  Mr.  Sweet,  private  secretary 
to  Mr.  Pullman,  who  in  turn  had  carried  the  card  to  the 
inner  office  of  the  magnate,  returning  in  a  few  moments 
and  saying  that  Mr.  Pullman  was  not  in.  Mr.  Johnson 
told  the  court  that  Mr.  Pullman  had  arrived  at  his  of- 
fice at  the  usual  hour  that  morning. 

Later  on.  Debs,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  referred  to  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Pullman  as  follows: 

**When  the  trials  were  in  progress  at  Chicago  Mr. 
George  M.  Pullman  was  summoned  to  give  some  testi- 
mony. Mr.  Pullman  attached  his  car  to  a  New  York 
train  and  went  East,  and  in  some  way  the  papers  got 
hold  of  the  matter  and  made  some  publication  about 
it,  and  the  judge  said  that  Mr.  Pullman  would  be  dealt 
with  drastically.  In  a  few  days  Mr.  Pullman  returned 
and  he  went  into  chambers,  made  a  few  personal  ex- 
planations and  that  is  the  last  we  heard  about  it.  Had 
it  been  myself  I  would  have  to  go  to  jail.  That  is  the 
difference.  Only  a  little  while  ago  Judge  Henford  cited 
Henry  C.  Payne,  of  the  Northern  Pacific,  to  appear  be- 
fore him  to  answer  certain  charges,  and  he  went  to 
Europe." 

Jennie  Curtis  followed  Debs  on  the  witness  stand  and 
testified  that  at  the  time  the  Pullman  strike  was  called 
the  employees  in  those  car  shops  were  indebted  to  the 
amount  of  $70,000  to  Mr.  Pullman  for  rent,  and  indi- 
cated that  this  money  was  owed  to  Mr.  Pullman  by  his 
employees  because  the  wages  which  he  paid  them  were 
scarcely  adequate  to  enable  them  to  purchase  food  and 
the  bare  necessities  of  life. 

Debs  was  recalled  to  the  stand  and  admitted  that  on 
June  28  he  had  sent  out  a  manifesto  over  his  own  signa- 


148    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

ture,  copies  of  which  were  given  to  the  newspapers  and 
to  the  Associated  Press,  counseling  peaceful  conduct 
by  the  strikers  and  ordering  a  strict  compliance  with  the 
laws.     The  manifesto  concluded  with: 

*'A  man  who  will  violate  law  is  against  the  interests 
of  labor/' 

Counsel  for  the  government  asked  Debs  what  wages 
he  received  in  1875  as  fireman : 

*'I  began  at  $1  a  night,"  he  replied.  ''I  was  after- 
wards paid  by  the  mile." 

''Your  salary  as  President  of  the  American  Railway 
Union  still  continues,  does  it  not  ? ' '  inquired  Mr.  Walker 
for  the  prosecution. 

*'No,  sir  J  I  cut  it  off  myself  last  September,"  Debs 
replied. 

' '  The  purpose  of  your  Union  was  to  get  the  control  of 
all  the  railroad  employees  in  the  hands  of  the  American 
Railway  Union,  was  it  not?" 

"Yes,  sir;  under  the  limitations  of  the  constitution 
and  by-laws." 

Debs  said  that  the  Great  Northern  strike  was  a  peace- 
ful one  and  that  no  intimidation  had  been  used  to  bring 
new  members  into  the  fold. 

"You  simply  took  possession  of  the  road  and  held  it  f " 
asked  Attorney  Walker. 

**No,  sir;  we  simply  went  home  and  stayed  there," 
answered  Debs.  Government's  counsel  asked  Debs  to 
explain  the  meaning  of  the  word  "strike."  Debs  re- 
plied : 

"A  strike  is  a  stoppage  of  work  at  a  given  time  by 
men  acting  in  concert  in  order  to  redress  some  real  or 
imaginary  grievance." 

"Mr.  Debs,  will  you  define  the  meaning  of  the  word 
'scab'?" 

"A  scab  in  labor  unions  means  the  same  as  a  traitor  to 
his  country,"  Debs  replied.    "It  means  a  man  who  bo- 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     149 

trays  his  fellowmeh  by  taking  their  places  when  they 
go  on  a  strike  for  a  principle.  It  does  not  apply  to 
non-union  men  who  refuse  to  quit  work.*' 

Mr.  Pullman  was  still  absent  on  the  following  day, 
and  one  by  one  his  private  secretaries  and  other  officials 
of  his  company  mysteriously  disappeared  when  deputy 
marshals  were  sent  by  the  court  to  serve  subpoenas  upon 
them.  Judge  Grosscup  appeared  to  be  greatly  chagrined 
over  the  disappearance  of  witnesses  whom  the  defense 
desired  should  testify  in  the  lawsuit. 

Not  even  the  power  and  prestige  of  the  United 
States  district  court  was  adequate  to  induce  unwilling 
witnesses  from  the  Pullman  Company  to  appear  before 
ihe  defendants  and  their  counsel  and  testify  as  to  their 
own  knowledge  of  the  industrial  and  social  causes  that 
brought  on  the  great  strike  of  1894.  In  the  light  of  past 
performances  it  now  becomes  apparent  that  the  Rail- 
road Managers'  Association  of  that  period  did  not  desire 
to  continue  the  trial,  and  one  morning,  when  court  had 
convened,  Judge  Grosscup  announced  as  follows: 

''Owing  to  the  sickness  of  a  juror  and  the  certificate 
of  his  physician  that  he  will  not  be  able  to  get  out  for 
two  or  three  days,  I  think  it  will  be  necessary  to  adjourn 
the  further  taking  of  testimony  in  this  case.''  Debs 
and  his  co-defendants  were  astonished  by  this  sudden 
turn  of  events,  and  their  lawyers  pleaded  with  the  court 
to  allow  the  lawsuit  to  proceed,  but  to  no  avail.  Dis- 
trict Attorney  Black  asked  that  the  court  allow  the  case 
to  continue  with  eleven  jurors,  but  Judge  Grosscup  de- 
cided that  this  would  make  the  whole  proceedings  in- 
valid. Clarence  Darrow  asked  that  a  juror  be  selected 
to  fill  the  place  of  the  sick  member  and  have  read  to 
him  the  whole  record  of  the  case  as  it  had  progressed 
up  to  that  point.  But  arguments  were  unavailing.  So, 
on  February  12,  1895,  Judge  Grosscup  discharged  the 
jury  and  continued  the  Debs  case  until  the  first  Mon- 


150    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

day  in  May.  Debs  was  sorely  disappointed.  He  and 
his  fellow  officials  of  the  American  Railway  Union  were 
confident  of  an  acquittal  at  the  hands  of  the  jury,  and 
this  belief  was  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  when  court 
had  adjourned,  that  day  the  jurors  made  a  rush  for 
Debs,  grasped  his  hand  and  congratulated  him  heartily 
upon  the  stand  he  had  taken. 

The  jurors  shook  hands  with  the  judge,  and  then 
surrounded  Debs  and  his  fellow  defendants  and  at- 
torneys. Mr.  Walker  and  his  associates  for  the  prose- 
cution got  a  decidedly  cool  reception. 

Several  of  the  jurors  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  Debs 
that  when  they  went  into  the  jury  box  they  were  all 
but  convinced  that  he  and  his  co-defendants  were  guilty 
of  the  charges  named  in  the  indictment,  and  that  they 
thought  a  five-year  term  in  the  penitentiary  might  not 
be  too  severe  punishment  for  them.  But  the  evidence 
introduced  by  the  government  and  the  defense,  coupled 
with  the  honesty  and  candor  of  Debs  himself  upon  the 
witness  stand  had  convinced  all  of  them  that  they  were 
witnessing  one  of  the  most  atrocious  ''frame-ups"  ever 
perpetrated  by  a  corporation  cloaking  itself  in  the  toga 
of  a  federal  court. 

So  far  as  the  court  records  are  concerned  in  the  Debs 
case  the  juror  is  still  sick.  The  case  was  not  brought 
up  in  May,  as  scheduled,  nor  has  it  ever  been  brought  up 
since,  and  the  indictments  against  Debs  and  his  fellow 
officials  of  the  American  Railway  Union  were  never 
withdrawn. 

Debs  was  sentenced  to  serve  six  months  in  Woodstock 
Jail,  Woodstock,  Illinois,  for  contempt  of  court.  He 
completed  his  sentence  on  November  22,  1895. 

One  week  after  the  federal  grand  jury  at  Chicago  had 
indicted  him  he  received  a  telegram  from  his  home  as 
follows : 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     151 

'*Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  July  18,  1894. 
Received  at  Chicago. 
To  Eugene  V.  Debs. 

Stand  by  your  principles,  regardless  of  consequences. 
Your  Mother  and  Father/' 

About  the  same  time  he  received  a  telegram  from 
Eugene  Field,  the  Chicago  poet  and  Indianian: 

"Dear  'Gene:  I  hear  you  are  to  be  arrested.  When 
that  time  comes  you  will  need  a  friend.  I  want  to  be 
that  friend. 

*' Eugene  Field." 

This  simple  note  from  the  poet  is  among  Debs's  most 
treasured  possessions  saved  from  that  period  of  terror 
and  turbulence. 

While  Debs  was  serving  his  sentence  at  Woodstock 
Jail,  messages  and  telegrams,  books  and  papers  of  every 
description  and  kind  poured  into  his  cell  in  as  great 
a  volume  as  they  came  to  him  during  the  two  months 
he  was  at  Moundsville  Prison  in  1919.  Every  telegram 
and  every  message  was  one  pledging  love  and  devotion 
to  him,  and  congratulating  him  for  his  fearlessness  and 
courage  in  championing  the  cause  of  the  workers. 

Some  of  the  newspapers  of  that  day  seem  to  have  been 
mildly  fair  in  their  editorial  discussion  of  the  Debs  case. 
For  instance,  the  Chicago  Times,  of  February  13,  1895, 
printed  the  following  editorial  under  the  caption, ' '  Shall 
Debs  Be  Tried  Again?" 

''Owing  to  the  illness  of  one  juror  the  conspiracy 
cases  against  Eugene  V.  Debs  and  his  associates  of  the 
American  Railway  Union  have  come  to  a  sudden  stop. 
The  propositions  of  the  defense  to  continue  the  hearing 
of  the  case  with  eleven  jurors,  or  to  swear  in  a  twelfth 
juror  and  proceed  after  the  evidence  already  in  had 
been  read  to  him,  were  both  opposed  by  counsel  for  the 
government  and  the  railroads.  As  the  matter  now 
stands,  a  new  jury  will  have  to  be  impaneled  and  the 


152    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

whole  thing  gone  over  again,  unless  the  Government  de- 
cides to  abandon  the  prosecution. 

*'It  is  exceedingly  unfortunate  that  the  present  trial 
should  have  been  interrupted  in  this  unforeseen  fash- 
ion. A  judicial  declaration  upon  the  issues  involved 
would  have  been  of  very  decided  value  to  all  classes  of 
society.  As  the  evidence  has  been  detailed  day  after 
day  in  the  very  full  reports  in  the  columns  of  the  Times, 
the  people  have  been  able  to  gain  a  clearer  and  more 
exact  idea  of  the  incidents  of  the  great  strike  than  was 
possible  in  the  moments  of  heated  controversy  last  sum- 
mer. It  does  not  seem  like  overstatement  to  say  that 
there  was  every  indication  that  the  defense  would  be 
successful.  The  charge  of  conspiracy,  had  not,  at  the 
time  of  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  case,  been  at  all 
forcefully  substantiated. 

**  Interviews  with  the  released  jurors  established  the 
fact  that  they  would  have  acquitted  the  defendants  had 
the  case  been  carried  to  its  regular  conclusion.  It  is 
credibly  asserted  that  the  prosecution  has  for  some  time 
apprehended  such  an  outcome  of  the  trial,  and  it  was 
probably  for  this  reason  that  the  attorneys  for  the  Gov- 
ernment exercised  their  undoubted  right  to  protest 
against  continuing  with  an  incomplete  jury. 

"In  this  situation  the  question  arises  whether  the 
Government  shall  proceed  further  with  this  prosecution. 
Heavy  expense  is  involved  in  it  and  it  will  consume 
much  of  the  time  of  a  court  already  overcrowded  with 
business.  It  is  just,  too,  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  defendants  are  poor  men.  The  expenses  of 
the  defense  have  thus  far  been  met  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions from  other  poor  men,  who  are  in  sympathy 
with  the  men  on  trial.  There  is  obvious  injustice  in 
enlarging  the  financial  burden  by  bringing  these  men 
again  to  trial. 

''In  the  opinion  of  the  Times  enough  has  been  done 
to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  State  in  this  matter. 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     153 

Further  prosecution  of  Debs  and  his  associates  would 
look  like  persecution.  The  Government  would  better 
abandon  the  case  forthwith." 

The  matter  of  Mr.  Pullman's  disappearance  caused 
the  Chicago  Times  to  say  editorially  on  February  8, 
1895: 

*' Magnate  Pullman  is  still  missing.  His  whereabouts 
seem  to  give  no  concern  to  his  immediate  attendants,  but 
Judge  Grosscup  of  the  United  States  Court  is  showing 
some  anxiety  to  learn  where  he  is  and  why  it  is  that  he 
has  not  been  served  with  a  process  calling  him  into 
court.  An  examination  of  Magnate  Pullman's  colored 
door-keeper  made  by  the  Judge  personally  disclosed 
that  he  saw  the  magnate  enter  his  office  Monday  at 
10:30  o'clock,  an  hour  after  a  deputy  marshal  called, 
but  he  has  since  mysteriously  disappeared. 

**Why  this  assumption  of  right  to  inquire  into  the 
personal  movements  of  so  great  a  man  as  Mr.  Pullman  ? 
Ought  we  not,  rather,  anxiously  unite  in  efforts  to  ascer- 
tain whether  he  is  entirely  safe,  for  if  Magnate  PulL 
man  were  to  disappear  into  thin  air,  it  is  doubtful  if  the 
world  would  continue  to  revolve  upon  its  axis  and  make 
its  usual  diurnal  revolution.  Human  laws  are  made  for 
the  mass  of  mankind.  Why  should  Magnate  Pullman, 
who  does  not  belong  to  the  mass,  but  is  a  being  apart, 
constructed  of  superior  clay,  be  subjected  to  any  such 
belittling  regulation?  Magnate  Pullman  keeps  more 
bar-rooms  in  more  states  in  the  union  than  any  grog 
shop  seller  and  employs  more  male  chamber-maids  than 
any  other  magnate  in  the  bed-house  business. 

**The  (Chicago)  Tribune  finds  excuses  for  the  mag- 
nate. It  says :  '  It  is  not  strange  that  he  should  be  un- 
willing to  go  on  the  stand  and  be  questioned  by  Mr. 
Darrow,  Mr.  Geeting  (?)  (Gregory)  and  the  other  law- 
yers for  the  defense.  It  is  not  pleasant  for  a  person 
who  is  at  the  head  of  a  great  corporation,  who  has  many 
subordinates  and  no  superiors,  and  who  is  in  the  habit 


154    DEB&— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  giving  orders  instead  of  answering  questions,  to  be 
interrogated  by  persons  who  are  unfriendly  to  him,  and 
who  may  put  disagreeable  inquiries  which  he  has  to  reply 
to  civilly.' 

*' That's  it.  Mr.  Pullman  is  superior  to  the  law. 
Like  the  king,  he  can  do  no  wrong,  and  no  processes 
can  lie  against  him.  The  Tribune,  however,  we  are  bound 
to  say,  weakens  a  little,  for  it  adds:  'Nevertheless,  it  is 
the  duty  of  all  men  to  appear  in  court  when  they  are 
wanted  there.' 

' ' .  .  .  There  was  some  music  here  last  June  and  July. 
It  was  music  that  never  should  have  been  played  if 
Magnate  Pullman  had  been  like  the  ordinary  run  of 
human  beings,  but,  being  altogether  an  extraordinary 
creature,  he  waved  his  baton  and  the  band  began  to  play, 
but,  far  from  facing  the  music  which  he  himself  had 
set  in  motion,  he  retired  with  a  lawyer  bodyguard  to 
the  East  and  viewed  the  concert  from  a  distance  of  a 
thousand  miles.  Really,  he  had  nothing  to  fear,  for,  as 
it  turned  out,  not  a  single  pane  of  glass  in  his  marvelous 
town  was  broken  by  what  he  regarded  as  a  fearful  mob. 

**The  outcome  of  the  present  matter  will  be,  of  course, 
a  demonstration  that  Magnate  Pullman  is  a  bigger  man 
than  the  United  States  Court." 

On  January  1,  1895,  the  Bailway  Times,  the  organ  of 
the  American  Railway  Union,  published  the  following 
notice : 

*'The  general  offices  of  the  American  Railway  Union 
and  the  Bailway  Times  have  been  removed  to  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana.  The  directors  having  been  sentenced  to 
prison,  the  change  was  made  so  that  the  work  of  the  Or- 
der could  be  efficiently  and  economically  done  during 
their  confinement.  The  work  of  organizing  and  equip- 
ping the  A.  R.  U.  will  be  pushed  with  unabated  vigor. 
Insurance  and  secret  work  will  be  adopted  as  soon  as  it 
can  be  done  under  temporarily  trying  circumstances. 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     155 

**A11  correspondence  should  be  addressed  to  Eugene 
V.  Debs,  Terre  Haute,  Indiana. 
**Terre  Haute,  Ind.,  Jan.  1,  1895.'' 


DEBS  IN  WOODSTOCK  JAIL. 

With  Eugene  Debs  in  jail,  a  number  of  newspapers 
printed  the  following  story  on  January  9,  1895: 

''Woodstock,  111. — Eugene  V.  Debs,  George  Howard, 
Sylvester  Kelliher,  Louis  W.  Rogers,  William  E.  Burns, 
James  Hogan  and  Leroy  Goodwin  are  confined  in  the 
McHenry  County  Jail.  Last  evening,  as  he  sat  in  what 
Cook  County  prisoners  would  call  a  palace,  Mr.  Debs 
issued  a  manifesto  to  the  American  people,  which  con- 
tains the  following: 

**  'In  going  to  jail  for  participation  in  the  late  strike 
we  have  no  apologies  to  make  nor  regrets  to  express. 
I  would  not  change  places  with  Judge  Woods,  and  if 
it  is  expected  that  six  months,  or  even  six  years,  in  jail 
will  purge  me  of  contempt,  the  punishment  will  fail  of 
its  purpose. 

"  'Candor  compels  me  to  characterize  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding as  infamous.  It  is  not  calculated  to  revive  the 
rapidly  failing  confidence  of  the  American  people  in  the 
federal  judiciary.  There  is  not  a  scrap  of  testimony 
to  show  that  one  of  us  violated  any  law  whatsoever. 
If  we  are  guilty  of  conspiracy,  why  are  we  punished  for 
contempt  ? 

"  'I  would  a  thousand  times  rather  be  accountable 
for  the  strike  than  for  the  decision. 

"  'We  are,  by  chance,  the  mere  instrumentalities  in 
the  evolutionary  processes  in  operation  through  which 
industrial  slavery  is  to  be  abolished  and  economic  free- 
dom established.  Then  the  starry  banner  will  symbolize, 
as  it  was  designed  to  symbolize,  social,  political,  religious 
and  economic  emancipation  from  the  thraldom  of 
tyranny,  oppression  and  degradation.'  " 


156    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Eugene  V.  Debs  entered  "Woodstock  jail  a  fearless, 
courageous  and  candid  man,  who  had  a  genius  for  lead- 
ership. It  would  be  too  moderate  to  say  that  he  was 
extremely  popular  among  the  railroad  workers  and  those 
employed  in  allied  trades.  But  he  had  not  yet  acquired 
national  prominence.  His  own  personality  had  been 
submerged  in  the  issues  of  the  strike  itself,  and  if  the 
public  regarded  him  at  all  in  that  period  it  was  as  a 
man  who  would  soon  be  lost  to  view,  and  carrying  for- 
ever upon  his  escutcheon  the  stigma  of  a  prison  sen- 
tence. Rarely  does  the  public  ever  know  the  true  char- 
acter of  the  man  it  has  sent  to  prison.  The  federal 
judge  who  consigned  Debs  to  Woodstock  Jail  for  con- 
tempt of  his  court  could  not  know  that  by  his  act  he 
had  set  in  motion  all  the  latent  spiritual  powers  of 
Debs,  and  had  caused  to  sprout  within  him  the  seeds 
of  greatness  which,  at  every  recurring  opportunity  and 
season,  would  blossom  more  and  more. 

While  Debs  was  in  jail  at  Woodstock  he  wrote  a 
series  of  very  remarkable  letters,  one  of  which  we  shall 
quote  in  full  here: 

''Woodstock,  111., 
''August  29,  1895. 
"Mr.  Ed.  H.  Evinger, 

"Labor  Day  Committee,  Terre  Haute,  Ind. 

"Dear  Sir  and  Brother: — I  am  in  receipt  of  your  es- 
teemed favor  of  the  19th  inst.,  in  which  you  say:  'We 
have  been  unable  to  get  a  representative  labor  speaker 
for  our  Labor  Day  celebration  and  the  committee  ordered 
me  to  ask  you  to  write  us  a  letter  to  be  read  on  the  oc- 
casion. ' 

"In  responding  to  your  request  I  am  disposed  to  re- 
cite a  page  of  what  all  Christendom  proclaims  'sacred 
history. ' 

"There  existed  some  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago 
a  king  clothed  with  absolute  power,  known  as  Darius, 
who  ruled  over  the  Medes  and  the  Persians.     He  was 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     157 

not  a  usurper  like  William  A.  Woods,  the  United  States 
Circuit  Judge.  Darius  was  royal  spawn.  His  right  to 
rule  was  what  kings  then,  as  now,  claimed  to  be  a  'di- 
vine right.'  All  the  people  in  Darius'  empire  were 
slaves.  The  will  of  the  king  was  absolute.  What  the 
king  said  was  law,  just  as  we  now  find  in  the  United 
States  of  America  that  what  a  United  States  judge  says 
is  law.  Darius,  the  Persian  despot,  could  imprison  at 
will;  the  same  is  true  of  Woods,  the  despot.  There  is 
absolutely  no  difference.  Do  I  hear  an  exception?  Al- 
low me  to  support  my  indictment  by  authority  that 
passes  current  throughout  the  Republic.  Only  a  few 
days  ago  the  venerable  Judge  Trumbull,  one  of  the 
most  eminent  jurists  and  statesmen  America  has  ever 
produced,  wrote  these  burning  words :  '  The  doctrine  an- 
nounced by  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  Debs  case,  carried 
to  its  logical  conclusion,  places  every  citizen  at  the 
mercy  of  any  prejudiced  or  malicious  federal  judge,  who 
may  think  proper  to  imprison  him.'  This  states  the 
case  of  the  officers  of  the  American  Railway  Union  in 
a  nutshell.  They  violated  no  law,  they  committed  no 
crime,  they  have  not  been  charged,  nor  indicted,  nor 
tried,  and  yet  they  were  arbitrarily  sentenced  and  thrust 
in  jail  and  what  has  happened  to  them  will  happen  to 
others  who  dare  protest  against  such  inhumanity  as 
the  monster  Pullman  practiced  upon  his  employees  and 
their  families. 

''More  than  twenty-five  hundred  years  have  passed 
to  join  the  unnumbered  centuries  since  Darius  lived  and 
reigned,  and  now  in  the  United  States  we  have  about 
four  score  Darius  despots,  each  of  whom  may  at  his 
will,  whim  or  pleasure,  imprison  an  American  citizen — 
and  this  grim  truth  is  up  for  debate  on  Labor  Day. 

"It  will  be  remembered  that  during  the  reign  of 
Darius  there  was  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Daniel 
whom  the  king  delighted  to  honor.  The  only  fault  that 
could  be  found  with  Daniel  was  that  he  would  not  wor- 


158    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

ship  the  Persian  gods,  but  would,  three  times  a  day, 
go  to  his  window,  looking  toward  Jerusalem,  and  pray. 
This  was  his  crime.  It  was  enough.  The  Persians  had 
a  religion  of  their  own.  They  had  their  gods  of  gold, 
brass,  stone,  clay,  wood,  anything  from  a  mouse  to  a 
mountain,  and  they  would  not  tolerate  any  other  god. 
They  had,  in  modern  parlance,  an  'established  church,' 
and  as  Daniel,  like  Christ,  would  not  conform  to  the 
Persian  religion,  'the  presidents  of  the  kingdom,  the 
governors  and  the  princes,  the  counselors  and  the  cap- 
tains,' or  as  in  these  later  days  the  corporations,  the 
trusts,  the  syndicates  and  combines,  concluded  to  get 
rid  of  Daniel  and  they  persuaded  Darius  to  issue  an 
injunction  that  no  man  should  '  ask  a  petition  of  any  God 
or  man  for  thirty  days  save  of  thee,  O  King' — and  the 
king,  a  la  Woods,  issued  the  decree.  But  Daniel,  who 
was  made  of  resisting  stuff,  disregarded  the  injunction 
and  still  prayed  as  before  to  his  God.  Daniel  was  a 
hero.    In  the  desert  of  despotism  he  stands  forever : 

^'  'As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form, 
Swells  from  the  vale  and  midway  leaves  the  storm : 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head.' 

*'But  the  bigots  triumph  for  a  time.  The  king's  de- 
xjree  must  stand,  and  Daniel,  as  a  penalty  for  prayer, 
must  be  cast  into  the  lion 's  den  and  the  bigots,  the  pluto- 
cratic pirates  and  parasites  of  that  period,  thought  that 
would  be  the  end  of  Daniel.  They  chuckled  as  in  fancy 
they  heard  the  lions  break  his  bones  and  lap  his  blood. 
They  slept  well  and  dreamed  of  victory.  Not  so  with 
the  king.  He  knew  he  had  been  guilty  of  an  act  of 
monstrous  cruelty  and  in  this  the  old  Persian  despot 
was  superior  to  Woods.  The  king  could  not  sleep  and 
was  so  pained  over  his  act  that  he  forbade  all  festivities 
in  his  palace.  In  this  he  showed  that  he  was  not  totally 
depraved.     The  king  had  a  lurking  idea  that  somehow 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     159 

Daniel  would  get  out  of  the  lion's  den  unharmed  and 
that  he  would  overcome  the  intrigues  of  those  who  had 
conspired  to  destroy  him.  Early  in  the  morning  he 
went  to  the  mouth  of  the  den.  Daniel  was  safe.  His 
God,  unlike  the  Supreme  Court,  having  found  Daniel 
innocent  of  all  wrongdoing,  locked  the  jaws  of  the  lions 
and  Daniel  stood  before  the  king  wearing  the  redemp- 
tion of  truth,  more  royal  than  a  princely  diadem.  Then 
the  king  who  had  been  deceived  by  the  enemies  of  Dan- 
iel, the  sycophants  and  the  vermin  of  power,  gave  his 
wrath  free  rein  and  had  them  cast  into  the  lion's  den 
where  they  were  devoured  by  the  ferocious  beasts. 

**  History  repeats  itself.  I  am  not  a  Daniel,  but  I  am 
in  jail,  by  the  decree  of  the  autocrat.  I  appealed  from 
one  despot  to  a  whole  bench  for  justice,  and  the  appeal 
was  unheeded.  I  and  my  associates  were  innocent. 
There  was  no  stain  of  crime  upon  our  record  but  neither 
innocence  nor  constitution  was  of  any  avail.  To  placate 
the  corporations,  the  money  power,  the  implacable  ene- 
mies of  labor,  we  were  sent  to  prison  and  here  alone,  con- 
templating the  foul  wrong  inflicted  upon  me  and  my 
associate  officials  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  with 
my  head  and  heart  and  hand  nerved  for  the  task,  I  write 
this  letter  to  be  read  on  Labor  Day  to  friends  and 
neighbors  in  the  city  of  my  birth. 

**It  is  not  a  wail  of  despondency  nor  of  despair. 
The  cause  for  which  I  have  been  deprived  of  my  liberty 
was  just  and  I  am  thrice  armed  against  all  my  enemies. 
To  bear  punishment  for  one's  honest  convictions  is  a 
glorious  privilege  and  requires  no  high  order  of  courage. 

*'No  judicial  tyrant  comes  to  my  prison  to  inquire 
as  to  my  health  or  my  hopes,  but  one  sovereign  does 
come  by  night  and  by  day,  with  words  of  cheer.  It  is 
the  sovereign  people — the  uncrowned  but  sceptered  ruler 
of  the  realm.  No  day  of  my  imprisonment  has  passed 
that  the  bars  and  bolts  and  doors  of  the  Woodstock 
Jail  have  not  been  bombarded  by  messages  breathing 


160    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

devotion  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  justice,  and  as  I 
read  and  ponder  these  messages  and  as  I  grasp  the 
hands  of  friends  and  catch  the  gleam  of  wrath  in  their 
defiant  eyes  and  listen  to  their  words  of  heroic  courage, 
I  find  it  no  task  to  see  the  wrath  of  the  sovereign  people 
aroused  and  all  opposition  to  the  triumphant  march  of 
labor  consigned  to  oblivion,  and  as  an  earnest  of  this' 
from  every  quarter  come  announcements  that  the  Ameri- 
can Railway  Union  is  growing  in  membership  and 
strength,  destined  at  an  early  day  to  be,  as  it  deserves 
to  be,  an  organization,  which  by  precept,  example,  and 
principle  will  ultimately  unify  railroad  labor  in  the 
United  States  and  make  it  invincible.  There  is  a  mighty 
mustering  of  all  the  forces  of  labor  throughout  the 
country.  Labor  is  uniting  in  one  solid  phalanx  to  secure 
justice  for  labor.  When  this  time  comes,  and  coming 
it  is,  peacefully,  I  hope,  no  judicial  despot  will  dare  to 
imprison  an  American  citizen  to  please  corporations. 
When  this  time  comes,  and  coming  it  is  as  certain  as 
rivers  flow  to  the  sea,  Bullion  and  Boodle  will  not  rule 
in  Congress,  in  legislatures  and  in  courts,  and  legisla- 
tors and  judges  and  other  public  officers  will  not  be 
controlled,  as  many  of  them  are,  by  the  money  power. 
There  is  to  come  a  day,  aye,  a  labor  day,  when  from 
the  center  to  the  circumference  of  our  mighty  Republic, 
from  the  blooming  groves  of  orange  to  waving  fields  of 
grain,  from  pinelands  of  Maine  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  the 
people  shall  be  free,  and  it  will  come  by  the  unified 
voice  and '  vote  of  the  farmer,  the  mechanic,  and  the 
laborer  in  every  department  of  the  country's  industries. 
''I  notice  in  your  letter  that  you  say :  *  We  have  been 
unable  to  get  a  representative  labor  speaker  for  our 
Labor  Day  celebration,'  and  here  let  me  say  that  on 
Labor  Day  all  men  who  wear  the  badge  of  labor  are 
'representative  speakers' — not  *  orators,'  perhaps,  as 
the  term  is  accepted  to  mean,  and  yet  orators  in  fact, 
from  whose  lips  fall  'thoughts  that  breathe  and  words 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     161 

that  burn';  coining  warm  from  the  heart,  they  reach  the 
heart  and  fan  zeal  in  a  great  cause  into  a  flame  that 
sweeps  along  like  a  prairie  fire.  It  has  been  the  good 
fortune  of  labor  to  produce  from  its  ranks  men  who, 
though  unlearned  in  the  arts  of  oratory,  were  yet  ora- 
tors of  the  highest  order,  if  effect  instead  of  fluency  is 
considered.  It  is  the  occasion  that  makes  the  orator 
as  it  is  the  battle  that  makes  the  veteran.  Mark  An- 
tony said:  'I  am  no  orator  like  Brutus,'  but  when  he 
showed  Cagsar's  mantle  to  the  populists  of  Rome  and 
pointed  out  where  the  conspirators'  daggers  had  stabbed 
Caesar,  the  oratory  of  Brutus  paled  before  his  burning 
words.  And  ever^^  man,  however  humble  he  may  esteem 
himself,  may  on  Labor  Day  hold  up  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  point  to  where  the  judicial  dagger 
stabbed  liberty  to  death,  and  make  the  people  cry  out 
for  the  reenthronement  of  the  Constitution — and  Terre 
Haute  has  a  hundred  such  orators. 

''I  write  in  the  hurry  and  press  of  business.  Before 
me  are  a  hundred  letters  demanding  replies.  I  pass 
them  by  to  respond  to  an  appeal  from  my  home,  and 
in  fancy,  as  I  write,  I  am  with  you.  I  am  at  home 
again.  My  father  bending  beneath  the  weight  of  many 
years  salutes  me.  My  mother,  whose  lullaby  songs  nestle 
and  coo  in  the  inner  temple  of  my  memory,  caresses  me 
— ^her  kiss  baptizes  me  with  joy  and  as  if  by  enchant- 
ment: 

'Years  and  sin  and  folly  flee. 
And  leave   me   at  my  mother's  knee.' 

**In  this  mood  I  write  with  the  hope  that  the  cele- 
bration at  Terre  Haute  will  inspire  renewed  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  labor,  and  with  a  heart  full  of  good 
wishes,    I   subscribe   myself, 

''Yours  fraternally, 

''E.  V.  Debs." 
*'Dict.  E.  V.  D." 

The  business  of  the  American  Railway  Union  was 


162    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

conducted  by  Debs  and  his  associates  from  the  Wood- 
stock Jail  for  the  six  months  that  they  were  imprisoned. 
The  Railroad  Mgmagers'  Association  was  not  idle  either 
in  those  days,  for  they  had  their  agents  stationed  on 
every  railroad  line  where  the  A.  R.  U.  had  a  unit  of 
organization,  and  it  was  the  business  of  these  agents 
to  report  to  their  superiors  the  presence  of  A.  R.  U. 
men  and  union  organizers  who  were  summarily  dis- 
missed from  the  company's  employ. 

Just  before  his  release  from  Woodstock  Jail,  which 
occurred  November  22,  1895,  a  friendly  committee  of 
labor  men  in  Chicago  sent  out  invitations  ''to  liberty- 
loving  citizens"  to  attend  a  reception  at  Battery  D, 
Chicago,  to  Debs  as  a  "  testimony  of  their  sympathy  with 
Mr.  Debs  and  his  colleagues  in  their  unjust  and  unlawful 
imprisonment  and  as  an  expression  of  popular  aversion 
to  judicial  despotism  and  devotion  to  civil  and  consti- 
tutional liberty." 

Debs's  last  night  in  Woodstock  was  spent  in  sound 
slumber.  At  one  second  after  midnight  the  sheriff 
aroused  him  and  told  him  that  he  was  free.  All  that 
day  and  night  great  crowds  of  farmers  and  men  and 
women  and  children  of  all  classes  and  conditions  had 
made  the  journey  to  Woodstock  from  Chicago,  fifty-five 
miles  distant,  and  from  adjacent  towns,  to  get  a  look 
at  the  man  who  had  defied  the  titanic  railroad  combina- 
tions of  that  day,  Eind  who  had  gone  to  prison  as  a  re- 
sult of  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  toiling  masses. 

Debs  had  his  breakfast  that  morning  with  the  Sheriff, 
and  the  morning  was  spent  in  visiting,  with  his  brother 
Theodore,  the  townspeople  of  Woodstock,  who  had  in 
many  ways  indicated  to  him  while  he  was  in  jail  their 
kindness  and  interest.  Debs  was  to  leave  Woodstock  on 
the  five  o'clock  train  for  Chicago,  where  a  huge  demon- 
stration had  been  arranged  in  his  honor.  As  he  was 
standing  on  the  steps  of  the  sheriff's  residence  a  throng 
of  burlv  workingmen  hove  into  view.    Debs  was  already 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK      163 

surrounded  by  shouting,  yelling  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren eager  to  show  him  their  joy  and  appreciation. 
The  men  pushed  their  way  through  the  throng  and  all 
at  once  one  of  them  shouted,  ''Lift  him  up  so  we  all 
can  see  him."  Debs  was  hoisted  upon  the  shoulders  of 
several  men  and  in  this  fashion  he  was  carried  to  the 
railroad  station  to  await  the  coming  of  the  train.  It 
was  estimated  that  ten  thousand  people  swung  into  ir- 
regular lines  behind  the  few  men  who  were  carrying 
Debs  on  their  shoulders.  The  hands  of  excited  and  ex- 
ultant women  and  children  covered  his  dangling  legs 
and  farmers  and  working  men  tugged  at  his  coat  sleeves. 
One  or  two  small-town  bands,  catching  the  spirit  of 
the  occasion,  got  their  pieces  together  and  furnished  flar- 
ing music.  No  county  fair  or  Chautauqua  could  have 
inspired  as  much  enthusiasm  as  these  simple  country 
folk  exhibited  over  the  liberation  of  this  simple  man 
who  was,  in  fact,  overwhelmed  and  humbled  by  the 
show  of  love  and  feeling  of  his  fellow  citizens. 

Crowds  surged  around  the  train  as  it  rounded  the 
curve  at  the  station,  and  hundreds  boarded  it.  The 
ride  to  Chicago  was  made  amid  singing  and  band  music 
and  the  noise  of  the  grinding  wheels  was  drowned  in 
the  merriment  of  those  who  were  determined  to  turn  to 
victory  what  the  court  had  decreed  as  defeat. 

The  train  arrived  at  the  Wells  street  station,  and 
despite  a  falling  rain  and  mud  and  slush,  the  news- 
paper reports  of  the  period  estimated  that  100,000 
people  of  all  shades  and  conditions  of  life  swarmed  into 
the  shed  of  the  depot,  literally  sweeping  Debs  off  his 
feet  and  carrying  him  to  a  waiting  carriage  drawn  by 
six  white  horses.  But  if  there  was  any  one  who  thought 
Debs  would  ride  while  they  walked  they  were  soon  to 
be  disappointed,  for  when  Debs  saw  the  carriage  await- 
ing him  he  said,  *'No.  If  the  rest  walk,  I  shall  walk,  too. 
What  is  good  enough  for  them  is  also  good  enough  for 


164    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

That  occasion  was  so  significant  in  view  of  the  condi- 
tions that  had  provoked  it  that  I  must  yield  to  the 
temptation  to  quote  from  a  newspaper  of  that  day,  the 
Chicago  Chronicle,  of  November  23,  1895: 

*'The  arrival  of  the  train  bearing  the  party  with  Mr. 
Debs,  which  was  carefully  awaited,  was  the  signal  for  a 
mighty  yell.  The  crowd  on  the  platform  started  it  and 
it  was  taken  up  by  those  who  thronged  the  stairs  leading 
down  to  the  platform  and  those  who  were  above  in  the 
street.  The  cheering  became  deafening.  When  Debs 
appeared  on  the  platform  of  the  coach  the  cheers  be- 
came a  tumult  of  frantic  yells.  Those  who  were  nearest 
the  labor  leader  rushed  to  him  and  seized  him  in  their 
arms  and  bore  him  from  the  car  into  the  surging,  strug- 
gling, pushing,  cheering,  yelling  throng.  Sitting  on 
the  shoulders  of  men  and  raised  above  the  heads  of  the 
crowd,  bareheaded  and  smiling,  Debs  acknowledged  the 
salutes  of  the  crowd,  bowing  and  waving  his  hat.  Which 
ever  way  the  labor  leader  turned  there  was  a  fresh 
outburst  of  cheers,  but  so  great  was  the  crowd  that  it 
remained  wedged  together.  No  one  could  move.  The 
police  cried  in  vain,  but  they  could  hardly  hear  their  own 
voices.  .  .  .  Those  who  were  near  enough  reached  out  to 
touch  the  leader's  garments  and  those  who  were  not  were 
madly  striving  to  do  so, 

''The  men  who  were  bearing  Debs  on  their  shoulders 
had  not  gone  ten  paces  from  the  car  when  they  could 
go  no  farther.  From  every  direction  the  crowd  faced 
toward  their  idol.  Men  cried  for  air  and  egress  from 
the  pressing  mass,  but  no  one  heard  them.  The  police- 
men were  as  powerless  as  every  one  else.  .  .  . 

' '  The  slender  form  of  the  man  whose  presence  brought 
out  the  outpouring  was  all  the  while  held  aloft  and  safe 
from  the  crush.  A  smile  was  playing  over  his  clean-cut 
features.  His  face  was  aglow  with  the  triumph  of  the 
hour.  .  .  . 

"Never  did  men  strive  and  struggle  so  to  demonstrate 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK      165 

their  love  for  a  fellowman  just  released  from  a  convict's 
cell.  Theirs  was  no  outward  show  alone.  There  was 
no  sycophancy  in  them.  .  .  .  When  he  reached  the  Wells 
street  bridge  he  asked  those  who  bore  him  to  set  him 
down  where  his  old  lieutenant,  William  E.  Burns,  who 
was  also  a  prisoner  with  Debs  in  Woodstock  Jail,  had 
gotten  near  enough  to  speak  to  him.  They  halted  then 
to  form  a  line  to  march  in  order  to  Battery  D. 

''More  than  fifty  of  the  labor  unions  of  Chicago  were 
represented  in  the  six  coaches  that  went  out  to  Wood- 
stock to  receive  Mr.  Debs.  The  procession  that  marched 
through  the  storm  was  composed  of  the  members  of 
every  trade  union  in  the  city,  wearing  badges  and  march- 
ing in  his  honor." 

The  Chicago  Evening  Press,  of  November  23,  1895, 
was  moved  to  say  editorially  of  Debs's  release: 

''In  the  face  of  facts  developed  yesterday,  it  is  idle 
to  say  that  Eugene  V.  Debs  has  lost  the  esteem  of  the 
masses.  No  such  demonstration  as  was  made  in  his 
honor  yesterday  and  last  night  has  been  seen  in  this 
city  in  many  years,  if  at  all.  Had  he  been  the  victorious 
soldier  returned  fresh  from  conquests  instead  of  a  con- 
vict liberated  from  prison,  his  welcome  could  not  have 
been  more  spontaneous,  enthusiastic,  sympathetic." 

After  pointing  to  the  fact  that  very  often  rich  men  and 
officials  of  corporations  do  not  go  to  prison  for  trans- 
gressing the  laws,  and  showing  that  it  was  common  for 
the  trusts  to  debauch  the  courts  and  bribe  legislators,  the 
Press  concluded  its  editorial  comment  with  this  poignant 
paragraph : 

"The  day  must  never  come  when  there  is  no  law. 
But  it  must  come  when  Justice  will  rip  the  bandage 
from  her  eyes  and  see  and  call  for  the  Havemeyers  and 
the  Standard  Oil  Magnates,  as  well  as  for  the  Debses." 

SPEECH   OF  DEBS   AFTER   HIS  REI/EASE 

In  crowded  Battery  D,  Debs  delivered  what  was  per- 


166    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

haps  the  most  brilliant  oration  he  had  made  up  to  that 
time.    As  he  was  closing,  he  said : 

'*In  prison  my  life  was  a  busy  one  and  the  time  for 
meditation  and  to  give  the  imagination  free  rein  was 
when  the  daily  task  was  over  and  Night's  sable  curtains 
enveloped  the  world  in  darkness,  relieved  only  by  the 
sentinel  stars  and  the  earth's  silver  satellite  'walking 
in  lovely  beauty  to  her  midnight  throne.'  It  was  at 
such  times  that  the  reverend  stones  of  the  prison  walls 
preached  sermons,  sometimes  rising  in  grandeur  to  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  might  be  a  question  in  the 
minds  of  some  if  this  occasion  warrants  the  indulgence 
of  the  fancy.  It  will  be  remembered  that  ^sop  taught 
the  world  by  fables  and  Christ  by  parables,  but  my 
recollection  is  that  the  old  stone  preachers  were  as  epi- 
grammatic as  an  unabridged  dictionary.  I  remember 
one  old  divine  stone  who  one  night  selected  for  his  text 
*  George  M.  Pullman,'  and  said,  'George  is  a  bad  egg; 
handle  him  with  care.  If  you  crack  his  shell  the  odor 
would  depopulate  Chicago  in  an  hour.'  All  the  rest  of 
the  stones  said  'Amen'  and  the  services  closed. 

"I  have  borne  with  such  composure  as  I  could  com- 
mand the  imprisonment  which  deprived  me  of  my  lib- 
erty. Were  I  a  criminal,  were  I  guilty  of  crimes  merit- 
ing a  prison  cell,  had  I  ever  lifted  my  hand  against  the 
life  or  liberty  of  my  fellowmen,  had  I  ever  sought  to 
filch  their  good  name  I  could  not  be  here.  I  would  have 
fled  from  the  haunts  of  civilization  and  taken  up  my 
residence  in  some  cave  where  the  voice  of  my  kindred 
is  never  heard;  but  I  am  standing  here  with  no  self- 
accusation  of  crime  or  criminal  intent  festering  in  my 
conscience,  in  the  sunlight,  once  more  among  my  fellow- 
men,  contributing  as  best  I  can  to  make  this  celebration 
day  from  prison  a  memorial  day.  ..." 

The  next  day  Debs  went  to  his  home  in  Terre  Haute. 
The  same  demonstration,  on  a  smaller  scale,  awaited  his 
iarrival.    It  had  been  raining  all  that  day  but  this  fact 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK      167 

did  not  dampen  the  enthusiasm  of  his  fellow  townspeo- 
ple. Several  hundred  miners,  with  the  Coal  Bluff  Band, 
escorted  him  to  his  home,  a  few  blocks  distant.  That 
evening  the  throngs  gathered  about  his  home  and  in- 
sisted that  he  come  to  the  Armory  to  address  them. 
The  streets  along  the  route  were  alight  with  Roman 
candles.  His  speech  on  that  occasion  was  brief,  the 
most  of  the  time  being  consumed  in  shaking  hands  with 
his  townsmen.  Debs  did  speak  sharply  on  that  occasion 
of  the  judiciary  and  its  tendencies,  saying: 

"If  all  the  common  people  united  and  asked  for  the 
appointment  of  a  federal  judge  their  voice  would  not 
be  heeded  any  more  than  if  it  were  the  chirp  of  a 
cricket.  Money  talks.  Yes,  money  talks.  And  I  have 
no  hesitancy  in  declaring  that  money  has  invaded,  or  the 
influence,  that  power  conferred  by  money,  has  invaded 
the  Supreme  Court  and  left  that  august  tribunal  reeking 
with  more  stench  than  Coleridge  discovered  in  Cologne 
and  left  all  the  people  wondering  how  it  was  ever  to 
be  deodorized.  There  is  something  wrong  in  this  coun- 
try; the  judicial  nets  are  so  adjusted  as  to  catch  the 
minnows  and  let  the  whales  slip  through  and  the  federal 
judge  is  as  far  removed  from  the  common  people  as  if 
he  inhabited  another  planet.  As  Boyle  O'Reilly  would 
say: 

'*  'His  pulse,  if  you  felt  it,  throbbed  apart 

From  the  throbbing  pulse  of  the  people's  heart.'  *' 

No  matter  where  he  goes,  what  the  circumstances  are, 
or  under  whose  auspices,  Debs  touches  all  with  whom  he 
comes  in  contact  by  his  kindness  and  his  love.  When 
he  left  Woodstock  Jail  he  carried  in  his  pocket  a  testi- 
monial from  the  inmates,  as  follows: 

**We,  the  undersigned,  inmates  of  Woodstock  Jail, 
desire  to  convey  to  you  our  heartfelt  thanks  and  grati- 
tude for  the  many  acts  of  kindness  and  sympathy  shown 


168    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

to  us  by  you  during  your  incarceration  in  this  institu- 
tion. 

**We  selfishly  regret  your  departure  from  here  into 
the  outer  world  and  scenes  of  labor.  Your  presence  here 
has  been  to  us  what  an  oasis  in  a  desert  is  to  the  tired 
and  weary  traveler,  or  a  ray  of  sunshine  showing  through 
a  rift  in  the  clouds. 

'*With  thousands  of  others  we  rejoice  and  extend  to 
you  our  most  earnest  congratulations  upon  your  restora- 
tion to  liberty. 

' '  Hoping  you  may  have  a  long,  prosperous  and  happy 
life,  success  in  all  your  undertakings,   especially  the 
'American  Railway  Union,'  we  all  join  in  wishing  you 
Godspeed  and  beg  to  subscribe  ourselves.  Your  friends, 
Charles  E.  Anderson,         Paul  Wambach, 
Edward  Madden,  W.  E.  Horton. 

To  Eugene  V.  Debs,  Esq., 

Woodstock,  HL,  Nov.  22,  1895. 

The  legal  expenses  of  the  American  Railway  Union  in- 
cident to  the  trial  of  its  officials  had  amounted  to  more 
than  forty  thousand  dollars,  and,  when  the  Union  fell 
apart.  Debs,  for  many  years,  helped  to  pay  oif  this  obli- 
gation through  his  lectures  and  writings,  despite  the  fact 
that  there  was  no  personal  obligation  resting  upon  him 
so  to  do. 

Debs  entered  Woodstock  Jail  a  labor  unionist,  and, 
after  spending  six  months  in  a  cell  he  came  out  a  So- 
cialist, thoroughly  convinced  that  the  full  measure  of 
justice  and  liberty  which  he  had  hoped  for  could  not 
be  gained  for  or  by  the  working  class  unless  they  were 
to  act  in  concert,  industrially  and  politically.  This 
conviction  dawned  upon  him  while  he  was  yet  in  prison. 

On  November  23,  1895,  the  day  following  Debs's  re- 
lease from  Woodstock,  there  appeared  in  The  Coming 
Nation,  one  of  the  earliest  Socialist  journals  in  this 
country,  a  letter  by  Debs  first  advocating  the  use  of  the 
ballot  by  working  men  as  a  means  toward  establishing 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK      169 

'*the  Cooperative  Commonwealth."  We  shall  quote 
only  a  paragraph  from  this  letter  which  reflected  the 
Socialistic  trend  of  his  mind  twenty-five  years  ago: 

'*.  .  .  Above  all,  what  is  the  duty  of  American  work- 
ingmen  whose  liberties  have  been  placed  in  peril  ?  They 
are  not  hereditary  bondsmen;  their  fathers  were  free- 
bom — their  sovereignty  none  denied  and  their  children 
yet  have  the  ballot.  It  has  been  called  a  'weapon  that 
executes  a  free  man's  will  as  lightning  does  the  will  of 
God.'  It  is  a  metaphor  pregnant  with  life  and  truth. 
There  is  nothing  in  our  government  it  can  not  remove 
or  amend.  It  can  make  and  unmake  presidents  and 
congresses  and  courts.  It  can  abolish  unjust  laws  and 
consign  to  eternal  odium  and  oblivion  unjust  judges, 
strip  from  them  their  robes  and  gowns  and  send  them 
forth  unclean  as  lepers  to  bear  the  burden  of  merited 
obliquy  as  Cain  with  the  mark  of  a  murderer.  It  can 
sweep  our  trusts,  syndicates,  corporations,  monopolies 
and  every  other  abnoi*mal  development  of  the  money 
power  designed  to  abridge  the  liberties  of  workingmen 
and  enslave  them  by  the  degradation  incident  to  pov- 
erty and  enforced  idleness  as  cyclones  scatter  the  leaves 
of  our  forests.  The  ballot  can  do  all  this  and  more. 
It  can  give  our  civilization  its  crowning  glory — the  Co- 
operative Commonwealth.  To  the  unified  hosts  of  Amer- 
ican workmen  fate  has  committed  the  charge  of  rescuing 
American  liberties  from  the  grasp  of  the  vandal  horde 
that  have  placed  them  in  peril,  by  seizing  the  ballot  and 
wielding  it  to  regain  the  priceless  heritage  and  to  pre- 
serve and  transmit  it,  without  scar  or  blemish  to  the 
generations  yet  to  come." 

The  following  year,  1896,  Debs  followed  the  banner 
of  Bryan,  ' '  but  I  was  a  long  way  toward  Socialism  even 
at  that  time,"  he  said  many  years  afterward. 

A  year  later,  1897,  Debs  ceased  all  compromise  and 
equivocation  with  the  political  and  industrial  question, 
coming  out  publicly  for  Socialism.    His  announcement 


170    DEB&— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  his  stand  took  the  form  of  a  circular  letter  addressed 
to  the  members  of  the  American  Railway  Union  on  Janu- 
ary 1,  1897.  This  circular  bore  the  caption:  "Present 
Conditions  and  Future  Duties,"  and  concluded  with 
this  statement: 

''The  issue  is  Socialism  versus  Capitalism.  I  am  for 
Socialism  because  I  am  for  humanity.  We  have  been 
cursed  with  the  reign  of  gold  long  enough.  Money  con- 
stitutes no  proper  basis  of  civilization.  The  time  has 
come  to  regenerate  society — we  are  on  the  eve  of  a 
universal  change.'' 

Just  six  months  later  the  American  Railway  Union 
held  its  convention  in  Chicago.  Debs  and  the  majority 
of  the  delegates  favored  political  action.  On  June  21, 
1897,  the  Social-Democratic  party  was  formed,  and  this 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Socialist  movement  in  the 
United  States,  with  Debs  as  its  devoted  champion  and 
leader. 

COMMISSION  INVESTIGATES  STRIKE 

Before  we  leave  this  phase  of  his  life  it  seems  neces- 
sary to  take  up,  very  briefly,  the  report  of  President 
Cleveland's  commission  appointd  by  him  to  investigate 
the  causes  of  the  Pullman  and  the  A.  R.  U.  strikes. 
This  commission  met  in  Chicago  in  the  summer  of  1895. 
In  order  that  he  might  attend  its  sessions  and  testify, 
Debs  was  taken  daily  from  Woodstock  Jail  to  Chicago  by 
two  deputy  sheriffs. 

Upon  taking  the  stand  Debs  said : 

"Government  supervision  would  not  answer  the  pur- 
pose of  preventing  strikes.  No  good  could  come  from 
compulsory  arbitration ;  that  is  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
Even  if  some  means  of  enforcing  the  decree  could  be 
devised,  those  against  whom  the  decree  was  rendered 
would  not  be  satisfied.  The  basis  must  be  friendship 
and   confidence.     Government   ownership   of  railroads 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     171 

would  be  better  than  railroad  ownership  of  govern- 
ment.'* 

"What  about  strikes  in  other  industries?"  inquired 
Commissioner  Worthington.    Debs  replied: 

* '  The  replacement  of  the  wage  system  by  the  Coopera- 
tive Commonwealth  could  alone  solve  the  problem;  as 
long  as  a  man  is  dependent  on  another  for  work,  he  is 
a  slave.  With  labor-saving  machinery,  which  term  is 
now  a  misnomer,  as  it  is  really  labor-displacing  machin- 
ery, unrestricted  emigration  and  ten  men  bidding  for  a 
job,  wages  are  bound  to  go  lower  and  lower.  Capitalists 
instinctively  feel  their  affinity.  I  want  the  working 
people  to  feel  the  same  way.  To  illustrate — in  the  late 
strike  we  did  nothing  to  interfere  with  the  Chicago 
Herald's  business,  yet  the  Herald  felt  its  kinship  to  the 
capitalists  who  owned  the  railroads  and  made  unmiti- 
gated war  on  the  railroad  employees. ' ' 

*'If  such  a  unification  of  working  people  was  accom- 
plished, would  it  not  have  a  dangerous  power?"  asked 
Commissioner  Keman. 

' '  A  little  power  is  more  dangerous  than  great  power, ' ' 
Debs  answered.  **If  you  have  one  hundred  switchmen 
working  in  a  yard  and  ten  or  twelve  of  them  are  organ- 
ized, you  will  have  a  strike  on  your  hands  very  soon. 
The  unification  of  labor  would  mean  the  abolition  of  the 
wage  system." 

At  another  point  Debs  said : 

*'It  is  understood  that  a  strike  is  a  war,  not  neces- 
sarily of  blood  and  bullets,  but  a  war  in  the  sense  that 
it  is  a  conflict  between  two  contending  interests  or  classes 
of  interest.  There  is  more  or  less  strategy,  too,  in  war 
and  this  was  necessary  in  our  operations  in  the  A.  R.  U. 
strike.  Orders  were  issued  from  here;  questions  were 
answered  and  our  men  kept  in  line  from  here." 

There  was  some  remarkable  testimony  given  to  the 
commission  by  federal,  state  and  municipal  officials,  as 
well  as  newspaper  reporters,  concerning  the  conduct  of 


172    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

federal  soldiers  and  deputies  who  were  sent  into  the 
strike  zone  **to  maintain  law  and  order  and  protect 
private  property."  For  instance,  Chief  Deputy  U.  S. 
Marshal  Donnelly  said: 

*'We  had  a  re^lar  force  of  men  sworn  in  of  between 
fourteen  and  fifteen  hundred,  and  then  we  swore  in 
four  thousand  for  the  railroads.  The  government  armed 
and  paid  the  regular  force  and  the  railroads  armed  and 
paid  the  others.  The  first  lot  of  men  we  got  were  a 
poor  lot.  We  went  on  the  street  and  got  such  men  as 
we  could.  The  better  class  of  men  said  they  wouldn't 
serve  against  the  strikers.  At  first  we  didn't  ask  for 
any  certificates  of  character  or  fitness.  We  received  our 
instructions  from  Attorney  General  Olney.  He  told  us 
to  hire  all  the  men  we  needed.  The  number  we  needed 
was  decided  on  at  conferences  between  the  United  States 
District  Attorney  and  Mr.  Walker,  special  Assistant  Dis- 
trict Attorney,  and  attorney  for  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee 
and  St.  Paul  Railway.  The  railroads  would  send  in  a 
batch  of  men,  saying  they  were  all  right,  and  we  gave 
the  *  stars'  to  the  railroads  and  took  their  receipt  for 
them.  These  railway  deputies  were  not  under  our 
orders;  they  made  their  reports  to  no  one  except  the 
chief  detectives  of  the  railroads.  They  derived  their 
authority  from  the  United  States.  All  the  violence  I 
saw  and  the  car  burning  was  done  by  boys — tough  kids." 

Superintendent  Brennan,  of  the  Chicago  Police  De- 
partment, in  his  report  to  the  City  Councils,  stated  that 
the  strike  was  orderly  and  peaceable  '*  until  the  army 
of  thugs,  thieves  and  ex-convicts"  were  sworn  in  as 
United  States  deputies  by  Mr.  Walker.  On  page  356 
of  the  commission's  report  appears  this  statement: 

**  Superintendent  Brennan,  of  the  Chicago  Police, 
testified  before  the  Commission  that  he  has  a  number  of 
deputy  marshals  in  the  county  jail  arrested  while  serv- 
ing the  railroads  as  United  States  deputy  marshals  for 
highway  robbery." 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     173 

Ray  Stannard  Baker,  then  a  reporter  for  the  Chicago 
Becord,  who,  during  the  World  Peace  Conference  at 
Versailles  in  1919,  was  head  of  the  American  Informa- 
tion Press  Bureau,  testified  as  to  his  knowledge  concern- 
ing the  character  of  the  U.  S.  deputies : 

**From  my  experience  with  them  it  was  very  bad.  I 
saw  more  cases  of  drunkenness,  I  believe,  among  the 
United  States  deputy  marshals  than  I  did  among  the 
strikers." 

On  page  370  of  the  report  appears  this  comment  of 
Harold  I.  Cleveland,  reporter  for  the  Chicago  Herald: 

*  *  I  was  on  the  tracks  of  the  Western  Indiana  fourteen 
days.  ...  I  saw  in  that  time  a  couple  of  hundred  dep- 
uty marshals.  I  think  they  were  a  very  low,  contempti- 
ble set  of  men.'' 

On  page  39  of  the  Commission's  report  we  find  that 
the  late  Mayor  Pingree  of  Detroit  came  to  Chicago  with 
telegrams  from  the  mayors  of  over  fifty  of  the  largest 
cities  all  urging  that  there  should  be  arbitration.  He 
was  turned  down  without  ceremony,  and  afterwards  de- 
clared that  the  railroads  were  the  only  criminals  and 
that  they  were  responsible  for  all  the  consequences. 

Mr.  Harding,  reporter  for  the  Chicago  Times,  testi- 
fied as  follows: 

** Captain  O'Neill,  of  the  Stock  Yards,  told  me  that 
volleys  of  shots  were  fired  by  the  soldiers  or  the  militia 
every  day  or  night,  which,  on  investigation,  proved  to 
have  no  cause  other  than  the  desire  to  create  excitement. 
A  crowd  would  naturally  gather,  newspaper  reporters 
would  flock  around  and  they  would  gather  something  to 
tell,  to  brag  about  in  the  papers.  I  know  this  is  so  from 
talks  with  the  men  themselves." 

After  examining  hundreds  of  witnesses  the  Commis- 
sion made  its  report  to  President  Cleveland.  That  re- 
port is  in  many  respects  a  remarkable  document  and 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  valuable  histories  of  that 
phase  of  the  American  labor  movement  in  which  Debs 


174   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

was  a  prime  factor.  We  shall  set  down  here  only  a 
few  of  the  salient  features  of  that  report  which,  by  the 
way,  President  Grover  Cleveland  virtually  repudiated 
in  an  article  signed  by  him,  and  reviewing  and  com- 
menting upon  the  Pullman  and  A.  R.  U.  strikes.  This 
article  of  the  late  President  was  published  in  McChire^s 
Magazine,  July,  1904,  under  the  title,  * '  The  Government 
in  the  Chicago  Strikes  of  1894/'  At  the  time  of  the 
publication  of  President  Cleveland's  article,  in  which 
the  former  chief  executive  naturally  upheld  and  justified 
the  conduct  of  his  administration  in  that  period  of  tur- 
bulence, Debs  was  engaged  in  his  second  campaign  for 
President  on  the  Socialist  Party  ticket. 

Debs  at  once  set  himself  to  the  task  of  replying  to 
President  Cleveland's  article.  McClure^s  did  not  pub- 
lish it.  Debs's  answer  finally  appeared  in  the  Socialist 
weekly,  The  Appeal  to  BeasoTi,  August  27,  1904.  Debs 
referred  to  that  report  as  follows: 

*'0n  page  44  of  the  Commission's  report  it  is  stated: 

**  *  United  States  deputy  marshals,  to  the  number  of 
3,600,  were  selected  by  and  appointed  at  the  request  of 
the  General  Managers'  Association,  and  of  its  railroads. 
They  were  armed  and  paid  by  the  railroads,  and  acted 
in  the  double  capacity  of  railroad  employees  and  United 
States  officers.  While  operating  the  railroads  they  as- 
sumed and  exercised  unrestricted  United  States  author- 
ity when  so  ordered  by  their  employers,  or  whenever 
they  regarded  it  as  necessary.  They  were  not  under  the 
direct  control  of  any  government  official  while  exercising 
authority.  This  is  placing  officers  of  the  government 
under  control  of  a  combination  of  railroads.  It  is  a  bad 
precedent  that  might  well  lead  to  serious  consequences.' 

"As  to  the  part  the  strikers  played  in  the  rioting  and 
car  burning  that  took  place,  we  find  on  page  38  that : 

'*  'The  strike  occurred  on  May  11,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  soldiers  went  to  Pullman,  about  July  4,  300 
strikers  were  placed  about  the  company 's  property,  pro- 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     175 

fessedly  to  guard  it  from  destruction  or  interference. 
This  guarding  of  property  in  strikes  is,  as  a  rule,  a  mere 
pretense.  Too  often  the  real  object  of  guards  is  to  pre- 
vent newcomers  from  taking  strikers'  places,  by  per- 
suasion, often  to  be  followed,  if  ineffectual,  by  intimida- 
tion and  violence.  The  Pullman  company  claims  this 
was  the  real  object  of  these  guards.  The  strikers  are 
entitled  to  be  believed  to  the  contrary  in  this  matter, 
because  of  their  conduct  and  forebearance  after  May 
11.  It  is  in  evidence,  and  uncontradicted,  that  no  vio- 
lence or  destruction  of  property  by  strikers  or  sjnn- 
pathizers  took  place  at  Pullman,  and  that  until  July  3 
(federal  troops  appeared  on  the  scene  on  this  date) 
no  extraordinary  protection  was  had  from  the  police  or 
military  against  anticipated   disorder.'  " 

The  newspapers  of  that  period,  obviously  persuaded 
by  the  railroad  corporations,  printed  articles  to  the 
effect  that  the  A.  R.  U.  strikers  were  guilty  of  high 
crimes  and  wholesale  destruction  of  railroad  property. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  upon  these  charges 
that  the  federal  grand  jury  at  Chicago  based  the  in- 
dictment against  Debs  and  his  associates.  Concerning 
this  matter  the  Commission  says,  on  page  45  of  its 
report : 

'  *  There  is  no  evidence  before  the  Commission  that  the 
officers  of  the  American  Railway  Union  at  any  time  par- 
ticipated in  or  advised  intimidation,  violence  or  de- 
struction of  property.  They  knew,  and  fully  appre- 
ciated, that  as  soon  as  mobs  ruled  the  organized  forces 
of  society  would  crush  the  mobs  and  all  responsible  for 
them  in  the  remotest  degree,  and  that  this  meant  defeat. 
The  attacks  on  corporations  and  monopolies  by  the  lead- 
ers in  their  speeches  are  similar  to  those  to  be  found 
in  the  magazines  and  industrial  works  of  the  day." 

On  page  46  of  the  same  report  we  read : 

**Many  impartial  observers  are  reaching  the  view 
that  much  of  the  real  responsibility  for  these  disorders 


176    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

rests  with  the  people  themselves  and  with  the  government 
for  not  adequately  controlling  monopolies  and  corpora- 
tions, and  failing  to  reasonably  protect  the  rights  of 
labor  and  redress  its  wrongs." 

The  subtle  manner  in  which  the  message  of  Socialism 
began  to  seep  through  the  bolted  doors  and  barred  win- 
dows of  Woodstock  Jail  to  Debs  is  best  told  by  him- 
self:* 

**It  all  seems  very  strange  to  me  now,  taking  a  back- 
ward look,  that  my  vision  was  so  focalized  on  a  single 
objective  point  that  I  utterly  failed  to  see  what  now 
appears  as  clear  as  the  noonday  sun — so  clear  that  I 
marvel  that  any  workingman,  however  dull,  uncompre- 
hending, can  resist  it. 

*'But  perhaps  it  was  better  so.  I  was  to  be  baptized 
in  Socialism  in  the  roar  of  conflict  and  I  thank  the  gods 
for  reserving  to  this  fitful  occasion  the  fiat,  'Let  there 
be  light!' — the  light  that  streams  in  steady  radiance 
upon  the  broadway  to  the  Socialist  Republic. 

**The  skirmish  lines  of  the  A.  R.  U.  were  well  ad- 
vanced. A  series  of  small  battles  were  fought  and  won 
without  the  loss  of  a  man.  A  number  of  concessions  were 
made  by  the  corporations  rather  than  risk  an  encounter. 
Then  came  the  fight  on  the  Great  Northern,  short,  sharp, 
and  decisive.  The  victory  was  complete — the  only  rail- 
road strike  of  magnitude  ever  won  by  an  organization 
in  America. 

**Next  followed  the  final  shock — the  Pullman  strike — 
and  the  American  Railway  Union  again  won,  clear  and 
complete.  The  combined  corporations  were  paralyzed 
and  helpless.  At  this  juncture  there  were  delivered, 
from  wholly  unexpected  quarters,  a  swift  succession  of 
blows  that  blinded  me  for  an  instant  and  then  opened 
wide  my  eyes — and  in  the  gleam  of  every  bayonet  and 
the  flash  of  every  rifle  the  class  struggle  was  revealed. 

*  * '  How  I  Became  a  Socialist, ' '  in  New  YorTc  Comrade,  April, 
1902. 


LABOR  UNIONIST  AND  WOODSTOCK     177 

This  was  my  first  practical  lesson  in  Socialism,  though 
wholly  unaware  that  it  was  called  by  that  name. 

*'An  army  of  detectives,  thugs  and  murderers  were 
equipped  with  badge  and  beer  and  bludgeon  and  turned 
loose ;  old  hulks  of  cars  were  fired ;  the  alarm  bells  tolled ; 
the  people  were  terrified ;  the  most  startling  rumors  were 
set  afloat;  the  press  volleyed  and  thundered,  and  over 
all  the  wires  spread  the  news  that  Chicago 's  white  throat 
was  in  the  clutch  of  a  red  mob ;  injunctions  flew  thick 
and  fast,  arrests  followed,  and  our  office  and  headquar- 
ters, the  heart  of  the  strike,  was  sacked,  torn  out  and 
nailed  up  by  the  'lawful^  authorities  of  the  federal 
government;  and  when  in  company  with  my  loyal  com- 
rades I  found  myself  in  Cook  County  Jail  at  Chicago 
with  the  whole  press  screaming  conspiracy,  treason  and 
murder,  and  by  some  fateful  coincidence  I  was  given  the 
cell  occupied  just  previous  to  his  execution  by  the  as- 
sassin of  Mayor  Carter  Harrison,  Sr.,  overlooking  the 
spot,  a  few  feet  distant,  where  the  anarchists  were 
hanged  a  few  years  before,  I  had  another  exceedingly 
practical  and  impressive  lesson  in  Socialism. 

*' Acting  upon  the  advice  of  friends,  we  sought  to 
employ  John  Harlan,  son  of  the  Supreme  Justice,  to 
assist  in  our  defense — a  defense  memorable  to  me  chiefly 
because  of  the  skill  and  fidelity  of  our  lawyers,  among 
whom  were  the  brilliant  Clarence  Darrow  and  the  ven- 
erable Judge  Lyman  Trumbull,  author  of  the  thirteenth 
amendment  to  the  Constitution,  abolishing  slavery  in  the 
United  States. 

*'Mr.  Harlan  wanted  to  think  of  the  matter  over 
night ;  and  the  next  morning  gravely  informed  us  that 
he  could  not  afford  to  be  identified  with  the  case,  'for,' 
said  he,  'you  will  be  tried  upon  the  same  theory  as  were 
the  anarchists,  with  probably  the  same  result.'  That 
day,  I  remember,  the  jailer,  by  way  of  consolation,  I 
suppose,  showed  us  the  blood-stained  rope  used  at  the 
last  execution  and  explained  in  minutest  detail,  as  he 


178   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

exhibited  the  gruesome  relic,  just  how  the  monstrous 
crime  of  lawful  murder  is  committed. 

*'But  the  tempest  gradually  subsided  and  with  it  the 
blood-thirstiness  of  the  press  and  'public  sentiment.' 
"We  were  not  sentenced  to  the  gallows,  nor  even  to  the 
penitentiary — though  put  on  trial  for  conspiracy.  .  .  . 

*'The  Chicago  jail  sentences  were  followed  by  six 
months  at  Woodstock  and  it  was  here  that  Socialism 
gradually  laid  hold  of  me  in  its  own  irresistible  fashion. 
Books  and  pamphlets  and  letters  from  Socialists  came  by 
every  mail  and  I  began  to  read  and  think  and  dissect 
the  anatomy  of  the  system  in  which  workingmen,  how- 
ever organized,  could  be  shattered  and  battered  and 
splintered  at  a  single  stroke.  The  writings  of  Bellamy 
and  Blatchf  ord  early  appealed  to  me.  The  *  Cooperative 
Commonwealth'  of  Gronlund  also  impressed  me,  but  the 
writings  of  Kautsky  were  so  clear  and  conclusive  that  I 
readily  grasped,  not  merely  his  argument,  but  also 
caught  the  spirit  of  his  Socialist  utterance — and  I  thank 
him  and  all  who  helped  me  out  of  darkness  into  light. 

'*It  was  at  this  time,  when  the  first  glimmerings  of 
Socialism  were  beginning  to  penetrate,  that  Victor  L. 
Berger — and  I  have  loved  him  ever  since — came  to 
Woodstock,  as  if  a  providential  instrument,  and  deliv- 
ered the  first  impassioned  message  of  Socialism  I  had 
ever  heard — the  very  first  to  set  *the  wires  humming 
in  my  system.'  As  a  souvenir  of  that  visit  there  is  in 
my  library  a  volume  of  *  Capital,'  by  Karl  Marx,  in- 
scribed with  the  compliments  of  Victor  L.  Berger,  which 
I  cherish  as  a  token  of  priceless  value. 

*  *  The  American  Railway  Union  was  defeated  but  not 
conquered — overwhelmed  but  not  destroyed.  It  lives 
and  pulsates  in  the  Socialist  movement,  and  its  defeat 
but  blazed  the  way  to  economic  freedom  and  hastened 
the  dawn  of  human  brotherhood." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS 

IN  four  presidential  campaigns— 1900,  1904,  1908, 1912 
— Debs  was  the  standard-bearer  of  the  Socialist 
Party,  and  in  1916  he  could  have  had  the  nomination 
had  he  not  positively  declined  to  make  another  national 
campaign.  In  that  year  Allan  Benson,  publicist,  was 
the  choice  of  the  Socialists,  while  Debs  stumped  his 
home  state,  Indiana,  as  candidate  for  Congress.  Of  the 
campaign  in  1900  but  little  is  known  save  by  those 
Socialists  who  date  their  membership  in  the  party  back 
twenty  years.  James  Oneal,  a  member  of  the  National 
Executive  Committee  of  the  party,  and  an  intimate 
friend  and  neighbor  of  Debs  for  many  years,  stated 
that  there  was  no  stenographic  record  made  of  the  1900 
convention  proceedings,  and  whatever  record  was  kept 
has  not  been  published.  The  Socialist  movement  in 
those  days  was  known  as  the  Social-Democratic  Party. 
It  was  usually  regarded  by  the  public  as  a  fanatical 
band  bent  upon  subtle  destruction  of  the  commonwealth 
*' through  their  impossible  economic  and  political  theo- 
ries." William  McKinley  and  William  Jennings  Bryan 
were  the  nominees  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties,  respectively,  but  neither  of  them  expended  more 
energy  or  made  a  more  intensive  campaign  than  Debs 
who  covered  every  state  and  territory,  not  once  but  sev- 
eral times.    Debs's  vote  in  that  year  was  96,116.* 

Despite  the  comparative  insignificance  of  his  vote, 
that  campaign  stamped  Debs  a  national  figure,  an  orator 
of  the  first  rank,  of  great  eloquence  and  arresting  sin- 
cerity.    So,  four  years  later  it  was  but  natural  that 

*  Figures  from  1919  ** World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia.'^ 

179 


180    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

the  Socialists  in  national  convention  should  again  honor 
their  foremost  member. 

On  May  5,  1904,  George  D.  Herron  made  the  speech 
nominating  Debs  for  president.  Mr.  Herron  has  since 
gained  some  prominence  outside  of  the  Socialist  move- 
ment, from  which  he  has  severed  his  connections,  by  his 
public  writings  approving  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Woodrow  Wilson  in  the  World  War  of  1914-1919. 
Mr.  Herron  closed  his  speech  nominating  Debs  in  this 
vein: 

**.  .  .  I  am  sure  that  in  the  intensifying  struggle  that 
will  bring  upon  us,  in  the  next  four  or  five  years,  things 
of  which  we  do  not  now  dream,  that  may  try  men's  souls 
and  bodies  and  faith,  try  the  whole  manhood  of  men  as 
possibly  men  were  never  tried  in  human  history^I  feel 
that  when  that  crisis  or  that  day  of  judgment  comes,  the 
working  class  Socialist  movement  of  America  will  be  as 
great  as  its  cause,  and  that  it  will  rise  up  to  match  its 
opportunity. 

**Now,  there  is  no  man  in  America  who  more  surely 
and  faithfully  incarnates  the  heart-ache  and  the  protest 
and  the  struggle  of  labor  for  its  emancipation,  or  more 
surely  voices  that  struggle,  than  Eugene  V.  Debs.  .  .  . 
I  count  it  as  among  the  great  joys  of  my  life — I  do  not 
say  honors,  because  I  have  done  with  them  long  ago — I 
count  it  among  the  great  joys  and  opportunities  of  my 
life  to  stand  before  you  to-day  and  nominate  Eugene  V. 
Debs  as  the  candidate  of  the  Socialist  Party  of  the 
United  States  for  President  in  our  coming  national  cam- 
paign.'' 

There  were  no  other  persons  nominated  and  the  con- 
vention made  Debs 's  choice  unanimous.  At  this  conven- 
tion Benjamin  Hanford  was  unanimously  chosen  as  the 
Vice-Presidential  nominee.  Morris  Hillquit,  recognized 
as  one  of  the  leading  spokesmen  for  the  American  So- 
cialist movement,  in  seconding  Hanford 's  nomination, 
said : 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       181 

* ' .  .  .  Under  no  circumstances  could  any  better  choice, 
any  worthier  choice,  have  been  made  for  associate  to  the 
presidential  candidate  than  you  have  made  by  the  selec- 
tion of  Benjamin  Hanf ord.  .  .  .  The  strength  and  brains 
of  the  working  class  of  this  country  will  be  well  repre- 
sented on  our  ticket. '  * 

In  his  speech  of  acceptance  Hanford,  now  dead,  paid 
a  glowing  tribute  to  Debs,  stating  that  it  was  the  opinion 
of  the  majority  of  the  delegates  long  before  the  con- 
vention assembled  that  Debs  would  be  the  best  possible 
bearer  of  the  party's  banner. 

On  May  6  Debs  appeared  before  the  convention  and 
made  his  speech  of  acceptance.  In  introducing  Debs  to 
the  convention.  Chairman  Seymour  Stedman  said: 
''^  Comrades,  it  is  my  pleasure  to  present  to  you  the 
Ferdinand  La  Salle  of  the  twentieth jcentury. ' ' 

Debs  replied,  in  part,  as  follows: 

"In  the  councils  of  the  Socialist  Party  the  collective 
will  is  supreme.  Personally,  I  could  have  wished  to 
remain  in  the  ranks,  to  make  my  record,  humble  though 
it  might  be,  fighting  unnamed  and  unhonored,  side  by 
side  with  my  comrades.  I  accept  your  nomination,  not 
because  of  any  honor  it  confers — for  in  the  Socialist 
movement  no  comrade  can  be  honored  except  as  he  hon- 
ors himself  by  his  fidelity  to  the  movement.  I  accept 
your  nomination  because  of  the  confidence  it  implies, 
because  of  the  duty  it  imposes.  I  cannot  but  wish  that 
I  may  in  a  reasonable  measure  meet  your  expectations ; 
that  I  might  prove  myself  fit  and  worthy  to  bear  aloft  in 
the  coming  contest  the  banner  of  the  working  class ;  that 
by  my  utterances  and  by  my  acts,  not  as  an  individual, 
but  as  your  representative,  I  may  prove  myself  worthy 
to  bear  the  standard  of  the  only  party  that  proposes  to 
emancipate  my  class  from  the  thralldom  of  the  ages.  .  .  . 

*  *  To  concentrate  myself  to  my  part  in  this  great  work 
is  my  supreme  ambition.  I  can  only  hope  to  do  that 
part  which  is  expected  of  me  so  well  that  my  comrades, 


182    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

when  the  final  verdict  is  rendered,  will  say,  *He  is  not 
remembered  because  he  was  a  candidate  for  President; 
he  did  not  aspire  to  hold  office;  he  did  not  try  to  asso- 
ciate his  name  with  the  passing  glories,  but  he  did 
prove  himself  a  worthy  member  of  the  Socialist  Party; 
he  proved  his  right  to  a  place  in  the  International  So- 
cialist movement.'  .  .  . 

**From  the  depths  of  my  heart  I  thank  you.  I  thank 
you  and  each  of  you,  and  through  you  those  you  repre- 
sent. I  thank  you  not  from  my  lips  merely.  I  thank 
you  from  the  depths  of  a  heart  that  is  responsive  to 
your  consideration.  We  shall  meet  again.  We  shall 
meet  often.  And  when  we  meet  finally  we  shall  meet  as 
a  victorious  host  to  ratify  the  triumph  of  the  Socialist 
Republic. ' ' 

In  the  campaign  of  1904  Debs  had,  as  his  leading  op- 
ponents, Theodore  Roosevelt  and  Judge  Alton  B.  Par- 
ker, Republican  and  Democratic  nominees  respectively. 
In  this  campaign,  as  in  the  previous  one.  Debs  was  ac- 
companied by  his  brother  Theodore  Debs,  and  several 
other  veteran  Socialist  campaigners,  among  whom  was 
Stephen  Marion  Reynolds.  Debs  carried  the  message 
of  Socialism  into  every  state  in  the  Union  and  into 
every  territory.  For  two  months  before  the  election  he 
was  on  the  road  constantly,  sometimes  delivering  six  to 
ten  speeches  a  day.  The  intensiveness  of  his  campaign 
was  the  marvel  of  political  circumstances,  and  the  sin- 
cerity with  which  he  conducted  it  evoked  the  admiration 
of  all  who  heard  him. 

In  1904  Debs's  vote  jumped  to  402,321.*  The  in- 
creased Socialist  vote  of  over  400  per  cent,  gave  rise  to 
the  gravest  fears  and  the  wildest  joys — fears  in  the  con- 
servative camps,  joys  in  the  radical  camps. 

Between  the  years  1904-1908,  and  for  some  while  after 
the  latter  year,  Debs  was  contributing  editor  to  the 
Appeal  to  Reason,  when  that  free-lance  Socialist  weekly 

*  Figures  from  1919  '* World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia.'' 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       183 

was  published  by  the  late  J.  A.  Wayland,  and  edited 
by  Fred  Warren  at  Girard,  Kansas.  Between  the  presi- 
dential campaigns  referred  to,  Debs  toured  the  country 
several  times  under  various  auspices  of  the  labor  move- 
ment. He  was  never  too  tired  to  respond  to  a  pressing 
demand,  and  they  were  many,  to  stop  off  at  a  wayside 
town  or  village  to  address  his  comrades.  Scores  of  times 
after  filling  strenuous  speaking  engagements  he  has 
sat  up  all  night  on  trains  so  that  he  might  stop  off  at 
some  city  or  town  along  the  route  to  visit  a  faithful 
follower  whom  he  knew  to  be  ill  or  in  need.  i 

With  the  financial  panic  of  1907  a  cloud  of  indus- 
trial depression  again  settled  over  the  country,  and  the 
Socialists  turned  their  attention  to  plans  for  the  most 
intensive  presidential  campaign  they  had  ever  waged. 
The  Socialists  were  the  first  of  the  political  parties  to 
hold  their  national  convention.  William  H.  Tait  was  the 
candidate  of  the  Republicans,  and  Mr.  Bryan,  for  the 
third  time,  was  the  choice  of  the  Democratic  Party. 
On  May  14  Delegate  Phillip  H.  Gallery,  of  Missouri, 
made  the  opening  speech  nominating  Debs  for  PresU 
dent.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  oration  Gallery  told  the 
delegates  that  if  they  nominated  Debs  he  would  ''bring 
a  message  of  hope  to  the  weary  mothers  in  the  sweat- 
shops, the  thousands  of  child  slaves  in  the  factories,  and 
to  all  of  those  who,  with  tired  hands  and  saddened  faces, 
bear  the  burdens  of  the  world's  work.  It  has  been  said 
of  this  comrade  that  he  has  made  mistakes,  to  which 
we  answer,  '  To  err  is  human,  to  forgive  is  divine. '  This 
comrade  bears  the  battle  scars  of  twenty-five  years  of 
service  in  the  labor  movement." 

John  Spargo,  who  was  a  delegate  from  New  York,  and 
who  had  given  many  years  of  his  life  to  the  Socialist 
movement  before  he  became  a  missionary  and  an  apolo- 
gist for  the  reactionary  elements  of  the  social  system, 
in  Russia  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  made  a  brilliant 


184   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTER-^ 

speech  seconding  Debs's  nomination.  Among  other 
things,  Spargo  said: 

*'*We  need  above  everything  else,  as  our  standard 
bearer,  a  man  who  will  give  us  back  our  standard  un- 
sullied and  unspoiled  as  he  takes  it ;  we  need  a  man  who 
will  carry  it  from  east  to  west  and  from  north  to  south 
not  merely  without  dishonor,  but  with  the  spirit  of  in- 
spiration and  of  the  revolution  of  the  working  class 
along  with  it.  Eugene  V.  Debs  is  not  only  a  man  who 
will  carry  the  spirit  of  the  working  class  revolution 
along  with  its  banner;  he  is  the  personification  of  the 
revolt  of  the  working  class  in  this  country.  .  .  .  Eugene 
V.  Debs  drank  the  genius  and  passion  for  liberty  from 
his  mother's  breasts.  .  .  .  He  has  breathed  that  genius 
and  that  passion  with  every  breath  of  his  own  in  these 
twenty-five  years.  .  .  .  When  Eugene  V.  Debs  was  bom 
I  think  the  morning  stars  must  have  sung  together. 
When  Eugene  V.  Debs  was  cradled  I  think  that  the  great 
spirit  of  liberty  must  have  watched  with  proud  rejoicing 
and  said,  'Here  is  my  champion;  here  is  my  voice  to 
cry  out  to  all  the  world  and  say,  as  the  prophet  said  of 
old,  *Let  my  people  go!'  When  Eugene  V.  Debs 
speaks  there  rises  before  the  gaze  of  every  workingman 
in  this  country  whose  heart  responds  to  the  yearning 
for  liberty,  a  vision  of  breaking  chains,  a  vision  of  the 
uprising  protesting  host  marching  out  of  its  misery, 
marching  out  of  its  servitude,  marching  on  and  on  to 
that  great  freedom  to  which  we  all  aspire.  Therefore 
I  second  the  nomination  of  Eugene  V.  Debs." 

Delegate  Seymour  Stedman,  of  Chicago,  opposed  the 
nomination  of  Debs  and  named  A.  M.  Simons,  who,  like 
Spargo  and  Herron,  among  others,  ceased  his  activities 
in  behalf  of  Socialism  when  war  came  to  America  in 
April,  1917.    Delegate  Stedman  read  to  the  convention 

*  Pages  147-148,  ''Proceedings  National  Convention  of  Socialist 
Party,  1908. 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       185 

a  letter  from  Debs  which  he  had  received  that  day.    The 

letter  follows: 

*' Seymour  Stedman,  Chicago,  111. 

''My  dear  Steddy:  Telegram  sent  by  yourself,  Wil- 
liams and  Berger  has  been  received  this  moment.  I  am 
sorry  not  to  be  able  to  comply  with  your  request.  The 
Appeal  has  undertaken  certain  special  work  of  some  im- 
portance on  the  strength  of  my  being  here,  and  I  can- 
not well  abandon  it  at  this  time.  I  should  be  h^ppy, 
of  course,  to  attend  the  convention  and  to  meet  the  com- 
rades if  the  situation  were  such  that  I  could  do  so.  I 
see  that  my  friends  have  again  been  very  kind  to  me  in 
this  matter  of  nomination.  I  had  hoped  that  my  name 
would  not  be  mentioned  in  that  connection  this  year, 
and  I  hav^e  done  what  I  could  to  discourage  it;  the  rea- 
sons for  this  purely  from  the  party  standpoint,  seem 
quite  apparent  to  me.  As  for  myself  personally,  I  never 
had  any  ambition  along  that  line.  If  I  do  anything 
worthy  of  keeping  my  name  alive  I  prefer  that  it  shall 
be  done  as  a  private  in  the  ranks  and  not  by  having 
my  name  associated  with  some  public  office  or  with  what 
may  seem  to  be  the  desire  of  some  public  office.  With 
loving  regards,  etc., 

'*I  am  yours  in  the  same  old  way, 

"Eugene  V.  Debs." 

It  appears  that  Stedman  had  opposed  Debs's  nomina- 
tion on  the  ground  that  Eugene's  health  might  be  seri- 
ously impaired  if  he  were  to  submit  himself  again  to  the 
rigors  of  another  national  campaign. 

On  the  other  hand,  Benjamin  Hanford,  of  New  York, 
who  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  the  Socialist 
movement  of  this  country  has  yet  produced,  and  the 
originator  of  the  term  "Jimmie  Higgins"  for  those 
who  do  the  hard,  grinding  work  of  party  building  with- 
out thought  of  reward  or  recognition,  whose  services  are 
all  a  matter  of  love,  and  who  are  served  by  none,  arose 


186   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

in  the  convention  and  seconded  the  nomination  of  Debs 
after  reading  a  letter  from  him,  which  follows : 

*  *  As  to  my  throat  and  general  health,  I  have  improved 
considerably  since  I  have  had  a  chance  to  lead  something 
like  a  regular  life  and  get  a  reasonable  amount  of  rest. 
I  visited  a  specialist  again  a  few  months  ago,  and  he 
assured  me  that  my  throat  was  greatly  improved.  At 
present  I  feel  no  ill  effects.  My  general  health  is  about 
all  that  could  be  desired.  So  far  as  strength  is  con- 
cerned, I  never  had  more  to  my  credit,  if  as  much.  In 
the  coming  campaign,  however,  I  would  prefer,  if  I  had 
my  choice,  to  so  see  what  I  could  do  with  my  pen  and  give 
my  tongue  a  rest.  I  feel  as  if  I  can  write  a  campaign 
and  make  some  of  the  enemy  take  notice  that  there  are 
Socialists  in  the  field.  Now,  I  will  tell  you  candidly 
just  how  I  feel.  I  have  never  refused  to  do,  so  far  as  I 
could,  anything  the  party  commanded  me  to  do,  and 
never  shall.  I  have  taken  the  nomination  under  protest, 
but  I  have  no  desire  to  run  for  office  and  a  positive 
prejudice  against  the  very  thought  of  holding  office. 
To  obey  the  commands  of  the  Socialist  Party  I  violated 
a  vow  made  years  ago  that  I  would  never  again  be  a 
candidate  for  political  office.  My  whole  ambition — and 
I  have  a  goodly  stock  of  it — is  to  make  myself  as  big 
and  as  useful  as  I  can,  as  much  opposed  to  the  enemy 
and  as  much  loved  by  our  comrades  as  any  other  private 
in  the  ranks.  You  need  have  no  fear  that  I  shall  shirk 
my  part  in  the  coming  campaign.  I  shall  be  in  condi- 
tion, and  I  hope  there  will  be  no  good  ground  for  com- 
plaint when  the  fight  is  over. 

*'Very  sincerely, 

''Eugene  V.  Debs." 

There  was  total  of  198  votes  cast  at  this  convention, 
159  of  which  were  received  by  Debs.  On  motion  of  Dele- 
gate Victor  L.  Berger,  of  Milwaukee,  and  seconded  by 
Delegate  Stedman  of  Chicago,  the  convention  made  the 
^vote  for  Debs  unanimous. 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS        187 

For  a  second  time  Ben  Hanford  was  chosen  as  Vice- 
Presidential  nominee.  When  Debs  heard  that  his  old 
friend  and  comrade,  Hanford,  had  again  been  chosen 
for  the  second  post  of  honor,  he  wrote  to  him: 

*'Girard,  Kansas,  May  15,  1908. 
Ben  Hanford,  care  Socialist  Convention,  Brand's  Hall, 
Chicago. 

**  Hearty  congratulations  and  handclasps  across  the 
spaces.  The  posts  of  honor  assigned  us  are  posts  of 
honor  only  because  they  are  posts  of  duty  and  responsi- 
bility. You  will  vindicate  brilliantly  the  wisdom  of  the 
convention  and  I  hope  at  least  to  keep  it  from  reproach. 
Greetings  to  the  greatest  convention  ever  assembled  in 
the  United  States.     Cheers  for  the  revolution. 

** Eugene  V.  Debs." 

This  was  followed  the  same  day  by  a  letter  accepting 
the  nomination,  which  follows: 

*'Girard,  Kansas,  May  15,  1908. 
''Frederic  Heath,  Secretary,  Socialist  Party  Conven- 
tion: 

''My  dear  Comrades: — Deeply  touched  by  the  incom- 
parable honor  you  have  for  the  third  time  conferred 
upon  me,  I  accept  the  nomination  for  the  presidency, 
returning  to  each  of  you,  to  the  convention  as  a  whole, 
and  to  the  party  at  large,  my  sincere  thanks.  The  hearty 
unanimity  with  which  the  nomination  is  made,  and  the 
magnificent  spirit  in  which  it  is  tendered  fill  me  and 
thrill  me  with  inexpressible  emotion  and  arouse  within 
me  all  the  latent  energy  and  enthusiasm  to  serve  the 
Socialist  Party  and  the  great  cause  it  represents,  with 
all  the  mental,  moral  and  physical  strength  of  my  being. 

"Personally,  I  had  earnestly  hoped  the  convention 
would  choose  otherwise,  but  as  individual  desire  is  sub- 
ordinate to  the  party  will,  I  can  only  wish  myself 
greater  strength  and  fitness  to  bear  the  revolutionary 
banner  of  the  working  class  you  have  placed  in  my 
hands. 


188    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

**  Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  nomination 
of  Comrade  Hanford,  and  to  express  my  personal  grati- 
fication in  having  a  comrade  so  loyal  to  share  in  uphold- 
ing the  proletarian  standard.  At  a  later  day  I  shall 
make  formal  answer  to  your  notification. 

''This  year  the  command  to  advance  must  be  issued 
to  all  the  hosts  of  Socialist  emancipation.  The  working 
class  of  the  United  States  must  be  aroused  this  year 
and  made  to  feel  the  quickening  pulse,  the  throbbing 
hope  and  the  stern  resolve  of  the  social  revolution. 
The  greatest  opportunity  in  the  history  of  the  Socialist 
movement  spreads  out  before  us  like  a  field  of  glory. 

' '  The  principles  of  the  Socialist  Party  are  resplendent 
with  the  truths  which  crown  them.  Its  very  name  is 
prophetic  and  its  spirit  is  literal  fulfillment  in  this 
auspicious  hour  supreme  with  opportunity.  Duty  to  the 
cause  transcends  all  else,  and  touching  elbows,  and  hearts 
keeping  time  to  the  quick  steps  of  the  revolution,  we 
march  beneath  the  banner  (no  compromise)  to  certain 
victory. 

**My  soul  love  and  greeting  to  you  all,  my  comrades. 
My  heart  is  full  and  overfiowing.  With  every  drop  of 
my  blood  and  every  fiber  of  my  being  I  render  obedience 
to  your  command,  and  offer  myself  body  and  soul,  to 
the  Socialist  Party,  the  working  class  and  the  revolu- 
tion. 

''Eugene  V.  Debs.'' 

It  was  the  almost  unanimous  opinion  of  political  ob- 
servers and  experts  of  that  day — 1908 — that  there  had 
never  been  waged  before  in  this  country  a  political  cam- 
paign as  spectacular  and  as  replete  with  dramatic  cir- 
cumstance, nor  one  as  pregnant  and  promising  of  great 
results  as  that  which  Debs  carried  from  one  end  of  this 
country  to  the  other  for  sixty  days  before  election. 
The  meetings  of  William  H.  Taft  and  William  Jennings 
Bryan  were  largely  attended,  and  both  candidates  pro- 
voked enthusiasm  wherever  they  appeared,  but  at  the 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS        189 

Debs  meetings,  no  matter  where  they  were  held,  men, 
women  and  children  fought  for  vantage  points  and  in 
some  sections  of  the  country  trampled  upon  each  other 
in  their  wild  determination  to  clasp  the  hand  or  tug  at 
the  coat  sleeve  of  this  **new  Napoleon  of  the  west,'' 
whose  message  to  his  followers  was  not  concerned  so 
much  with  politics  and  cure-alls  for  social  ills  as  it 
was  with  love,  one  for  another,  a  plea  for  universal  hap- 
piness and  personal  kindness,  and  a  solemn  command  for 
the  assertion  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  and  the  pro- 
tection for  childhood.  Like  a  Savonarola  commanding 
his  followers  to  destroy  their  idols  and  bum  their  vani- 
ties, and  pay  heed  only  to  the  word  of  God,  Debs  told 
the  multitudes  who  flocked  to  hear  him  to  bow  before 
no  king  or  tyrant,  to  accept  the  word  of  no  leader  as 
the  gospel  truth,  but  to  use  their  heads  with  the  same 
energy  as  they  had  for  many  years  used  their  hands, 
to  crown  themselves  sovereigns  in  the  glory  of  their 
own  manhood.  Every  speech  that  he  made  was  di- 
rected to  the  personality  of  the  individual,  and  every 
word  was  struck  off  from  his  heart  like  sparks  from 
steel  and  went  straight  to  the  heart  of  the  person. 

Brand  Whitlock,  former  mayor  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  and 
United  States  minister  to  Belgium,  on  June  16,  1908, 
commented  on  the  Republican  National  Convention,  as 
follows : 

'*A  few  weeks  ago  another  convention  was  held  in 
Chicago,  not  on  the  Lake  Front,  nor  was  there  any 
parade  on  the  Lake  Front.  That  convention  was  held 
back  in  the  heart  of  Chicago,  where,  perhaps,  the  misery 
and  squalor  of  our  industrial  life  shows  more  glaringly 
than  in  any  city  in  the  country.  That  convention,  ac- 
cording to  the  frugal  reports,  was  disorderly.  It  was 
a  real  convention  and  all  real  conventions  are  disor- 
derly. The  delegates  were  intensely  in  earnest,  every 
one  had  to  make  a  speech,  every  one  had  to  try  to  get 
other  men  to  help  him  realize  his  ideals.    That  was  the 


190    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

convention  of  the  Socialist  Party.  One  wonders  how 
long  it  will  be  before  this  well-mannered  crowd  on  the 
Lake  Front  learns  of  that  other  convention  so  much  like 
the  one  forty-eight  years  ago  (Lincoln's  in  1860),  and 
begins  to  inquire  what  it  is  all  about.  To-day  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  conspicuous  waste,  talking  with  such 
lack  of  interest  of  Taft,  and  of  how  Bryan  might  beat 
him  if  Bryan  were  new,  it  is  evident  that  they  do  not 
know  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  an  economic  question, 
or  a  hungry  workless  man  in  the  world.  Didn  't  Lincoln 
set  men  free  forty  years  ago  ? ' ' 

The  two  major  political  parties  were  making  much 
ado  about  the  funds  contributed  by  corporations  and 
rich  individuals  to  each  other's  campaign  fund.  This 
controversy  caused  Debs  to  issue  a  statement  from  Terre 
Haute  concerning  the  funds  contributed  to  the  Socialist 
treasury : 

*'The  Socialist  Party  has  always  published  all  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  in  connection  with  its  political 
campaigns,  and  this  year  will  be  no  exception  to  the 
rule. 

*'The  campaign  fund  of  the  Socialist  Party  is  made 
up  almost  wholly  of  the  nickels  and  dimes  of  the  work- 
ing class,  and  all  contributions  are  published  in  the 
official  bulletin  of  the  national  party  at  the  time  they 
are  made,  and  at  the  close  of  each  campaign  due  report 
of  all  receipts  and  expenditures  is  made  by  the  campaign 
committee  and  the  national  secretary,  copies  of  which 
are  furnished  to  the  party  press  and  the  party  member- 
ship. Not  a  dollar  so  far  has  been  received  by  the  So- 
cialist Party  from  any  corporation,  and  not  a  dollar 
ever  received  by  it  has  been  used  except  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  working  class. 

'* Eugene  V.  Debs." 

The  National  Executive  Committee  of  the  Socialist 
Party,  early  in  July,  decided  to  raise  a  fund  from  the 
membership  of  the  party  to  finance  a  "Red  Special' ' 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS        191 

carapaign  train  which  would  carry  Debs  into  every  nook 
and  corner  of  the  United  States.  The  train  consisted 
of  a  combined  sleeper,  observation  and  dining  coach,  a 
baggage  car  and  an  engine.  As  the  ''Red  Special"  en- 
tered each  state  local  speakers  and  candidates  were  taken 
aboard  to  assist  in  the  work  in  their  states.  There  was 
a  "Red  Special"  band  of  music  on  the  train  to  arouse 
the  public  as  the  candidate  approached  a  city  or  town. 
The  baggage  car  was  filled  with  Socialist  literature  of 
every  description  and  this  was  circulated  freely  through 
the  country.  ' '  The  Red  Special ' '  cost  the  Socialist  Party 
$20,000,  every  penny  of  which  was  contributed  volun- 
tarily by  the  membership  and  sympathizers. 

The  Socialist  train  left  Chicago  on  August  31,  for  the 
west.  Not  one  town  was  omitted  from  its  itinerary. 
No  sooner  had  it  gotten  under  steam  than  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  newspapers  printed  stories  accusing  the 
Republicans  of  financing  the  expedition  to  worry  the 
Democrats.  This  statement  was  promptly  disproved  by 
the  publication  of  the  names  and  addresses  of  persons 
who  had  contributed  toward  the  enterprise. 

Harry  C.  Parker,  of  Philadelphia,  was  in  general 
charge  of  the  train  on  its  westward  sweep. 

Before  the  ''Red  Special"  started  Debs  had  been 
campaigning  in  several  states  of  the  west,  especially 
Kansas.    On  August  24,  he  wrote  as  follows : 

"The  meetings  out  here  are  big  as  all  outdoors  and 
red  hot  with  enthusiasm.  Ye  Gods!  But  these  are 
pregnant  days!  The  hosts  pour  in  from  all  directions 
— ^men,  women,  children  and  babies,  and  all  of  them, 
including  the  babies,  are  up  in  arms  against  the  capi- 
talist system.  The  farmers  out  here,  thousands  of  them, 
are  revolutionary  to  the  core  and  ripe  and  ready  for 
action.  Socialists  are  nearly  as  thick  out  here,  and 
quite  as  strictly  strenuous,  as  the  grasshoppers  used  to 
be.  The  plutes  will  need  the  doctor  and  the  preacher 
when  the  votes  are  counted.    The  'Red  Special'  is  trump. 


192   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

The  people  are  wild  about  it  and  the  road  will  be  lined 
with  the  cheering  hosts  of  the  proletarian  revolution. 

'*  Eugene  V.  Debs.  " 

Debs  received  a  letter  from  Alexander  Law,  of  the 
National  Committee  for  the  Unemployed,  asking  him  to 
address  the  jobless  workers,  who  would  gather  in  New 
York  on  September  25.  All  the  presidential  candidates 
had  been  invited  to  speak  before  that  body.  On  August 
10  Debs  replied  from  Girard,  Kansas,  as  follows: 

''My  dear  Sir: — ^Your  favor  of  the  fourth  instant 
has  been  received  and  noted.  Replying,  I  have  to  say 
that  I  am  vitally  interested  in  the  question  of  the  un- 
employed and  appreciate  the  invitation  you  extend  to 
attend  the  convention  of  the  unemployed  to  be  held  in 
September,  but  as  I  shall  be  engaged  in  campaign  work 
at  that  time,  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  join  you, 
gladly  as  I  would  do  so  under  other  circumstances. 

"Thanking  you  for  your  kindness,  and  hoping  that 
your  convention  may  be  fruitful  of  good  results,  espe- 
cially in  opening  the  eyes  of  the  working  class  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  capitalist  system  which  is  responsible 
for  unemployment,  and  that  this  system  must  be  abol- 
ished before  the  problem  can  be  solved, 

* '  I  remain,  yours  fraternally, 

"Eugene  Y.  Debs." 

The  Negroes'  National  League,  through  its  president, 
Rev.  J.  Milton  Waldron,  addressed  a  letter  to  Debs 
asking  him  to  state  his  position  on  the  Negro  question. 
In  his  reply,  dated  from  Girard,  Kansas,  June  30,  1908, 
Debs  wrote,  in  part : 

' '  The  people  of  your  race  are  entitled  to  all  the  rights 
and  opportunities  that  other  races  are  entitled  to,  but 
they  have  never  had  them,  nor  will  they  ever  have  them 
under  the  administration  of  either  the  Republican  or 
Democratic  parties. 

"Let  me  say  to  you  candidly  that  in  the  individual 
matter  of  defeating  William  H.  Taft  as  the  candidate 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       193 

of  the  Republican  Party  we  cannot  join  you.  We  So- 
cialists attach  no  importance  to  mere  individuals  in 
political  campaigns,  and  have  no  sympathy  with  any 
movement  designed  to  inflict  punishment  on  individual 
candidates  for  real  or  fancied  wrongs.  We  are  organized 
to  overthrow  the  capitalist  system  which  is  maintained 
politically  by  both  the  Republican  and  Demoeratic  par- 
ties, and  to  establish  the  Socialist  Republic  in  which  all 
men  and  all  women,  regardless  of  race,  nationality  or 
creed,  may  enjoy  equal  freedom.  To  accomplish  this  we 
are  not  making  war  upon  individuals,  but  upon  a  social 
and  industrial  system,  in  which  individuals,  especially 
those  prominent  in  political  life,  do  practically  as  they 
must  to  obtain  their  ends. 

^'The  Brownsville  affair,  we  admit,  was  disgraceful 
and  indefensible ;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  it  was  due 
to  race  discrimination.  At  least  the  outrage  cannot  be 
supported  upon  that  theory.  The  officials  of  the  Western 
Federation  of  Miners  were  not  Negroes,  but  white  men, 
and  yet  they  were  kidnaped  by  conspiracy  of  Republi- 
can governors  and  by  sanction  of  President  Roosevelt 
and  at  the  behest  of  the  Mine  Owners'  Association.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  race,  but  a  question  of  class.  The 
white  working  man  is  no  higher  in  the  present  social  scale 
than  is  the  Negro,  and  although  the  prejudice  of  the  one 
against  the  other  is  assiduously  cultivated  by  the  ruling 
class,  that  class  has  no  more  real  regard  for  a  wage 
slave  of  one  color  than  of  another. 

*'I  agree  perfectly  to  what  you  say  about  President 
Roosevelt.  He  is  in  truth  a  czar,  but  whether  he  is  or 
is  not  makes  but  little  difference,  after  all,  in  this  capi- 
talist system.  The  President  of  our  so-called  Republic 
has  equal  power,  to  say  the  least,  with  the  Emperor  of 
Germany,  or  the  King  of  England,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  he  makes  use  of  power  which  neither  of  these 
monarchs  would  dare  exercise  over  their  subjects.  This 
country  is  ruled  to-day  by  the  President  and  the  Su- 


194    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

preme  Court,  and  this  resolves  itself  practically  into  the 
President  alone,  since  Supreme  Court  judges  are  crea- 
tures of  his  appointment. 

*'In  this  system  class  rules  class  and  will  while  the 
system  lasts,  and  this,  as  I  have  already  indicated,  is 
not  a  race  question,  but  a  class  question,  and  when  the 
Negroes,  the  great  mass  of  whom  are  wage  earners, 
develop  sufficient  intelligence  to  understand  their  true 
economic  and  political  interests,  they  will  join  and 
support  the  Socialist  Party,  the  only  political  party  in 
the  world  to-day  whose  declared  purpose  is  to  abolish 
class  rule  and  establish  a  republic  whose  fundamental 
principle  is  the  equal  rights  and  freedom  of  all. 

''Ever  since  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  the  Republi- 
can Party  has  used  the  Negro  as  a  political  asset.  The 
Republican  Party  cares  not  one  whit  more  for  the  Negrc 
than  does  the  Democratic  Party.  .  .  .  The  Northern  Rcx 
publican  manufacturer  places  precisely  the  same  esti- 
mate upon  the  Negro  as  the  Southern  cotton-grower. 
He  esteems  him  for  the  use  he  can  make  of  him  and  the 
surplus  value  he  can  extract  from  his  labor  power.  .  .  . 

*'The  Socialist  Party  wants  every  Negro  vote  it  can 
get,  provided  it  represents  the  intelligence,  dignity  and 
honesty  of  the  man  who  casts  it.  The  Socialist  Party 
does  not  invest  in  whiskey  and  cigars  as  a  means  of  in- 
fluencing the  votes  of  Negroes  or  others,  nor  does  it 
spend  a  single  cent  to  influence  any  man's  vote  except 
as  that  vote  can  be  influenced  in  an  educational 
way.  .  .  .'* 

Failing  of  a  broad-gauged  argument  upon  which  they 
might  meet  the  Socialist's  theories,  the  stump  speakers 
of  both  the  major  parties  accused  Debs  of  belittling  the 
flag  of  the  nation,  to  which  accusation  he  replied  on 
September  5: 

''We  say  that  the  national  flag  has  been  polluted  by 
the  plutocracy  who  have  used  it  to  shield  themselves  in 
their  evil  doing.     It  is  not  at  present  the  flag  of  the 


FOUR  PEESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS        195 

patriot  but  has  become  the  flag  of  predatory  wealth,  in 
its  exploitation  of  the  working  class  and  its  ravages  upon 
the  people  generally.  This  is  the  only  objection  the 
Socialists  have  ever  urged  against  the  colors  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  this  position  they  have  the  indorse- 
ment of  every  true  patriot  in  the  land.  It  is  the  corrupt 
and  truckling  politician  who  goes  to  the  legislature  and 
Congress,  either  as  a  so-called  representative  or  as  a 
lobbyist  to  defeat  the  will  of  the  people,  who  is  the  first 
to  point  to  the  flag  and  claim  to  be  a  patriot  in  its 
name.*' 

At  Muscatine,  Iowa,  Debs  addressed  2,000  people.  As 
he  was  going  through  the  train-shed  of  the  depot  to 
board  the  "Red  Special"  an  impressive  and  pathetic 
scene  was  enacted.  James  Carter,  an  aged  employee  of 
the  Rock  Island  Railroad,  pushed  his  way  through  the 
crowds  and  nudged  up  alongside  of  Debs.  The  tall, 
gaunt  man  turned  swiftly  around ;  there  was  an  instant's 
hesitation  and  then  Debs  threw  both  his  arms  around  the 
old  railroader  and  pressed  him  close  to  his  bosom.  He 
kissed  his  seamed  face  and  patted  his  furrowed  cheeks. 
'Gene  and  Jim  had  not  met  for  thirty  years — since  their 
boyhood  days  when  both  were  working  on  the  Vandalia 
Railroad,  in  Indiana.  In  those  days  both  men  were 
fired  with  ambition,  and  now,  in  the  middle  of  their 
life's  span  they  had  met  again  and  tears,  big  and  hot, 
rolled  down  the  cheeks  of  each. 

On  his  swing  around  the  country  at  that  time,  and 
before  and  since,  Debs  ran  across  hundreds  of  old 
American  Railway  Union  men,  and  together  they  spun 
their  yarns  about  the  old  days  of  great  strike  in  '94. 
Debs  went  out  of  his  way  hundreds  of  times  to  visit  the 
homes  of  these  old  veterans,  and  he  was  usually  laden 
with  gifts  for  the  wife  and  children  of  his  former  com- 
rade. 

On  September  3,  the  Kansas  City  Times  commented 
about  Debs's  meeting  in  that  city: 


196    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

''Eugene  V.  Debs,  candidate  for  President  of  the 
United  States  of  the  Socialist  Party,  spoke  to  a  crowd 
of  2,500  to  3,000  persons,  all  of  whom  paid  an  admission 
fee,  in  Convention  Hall  last  night.  Mr.  Debs,  though 
the  greatest  spell-binder  of  the  party,  is  drawing  just  $3 
a  day  for  conducting  his  own  campaign.  The  audience 
was  composed  largely  of  workingmen,  but  there  were 
many  business  men  who  listened  attentively  to  every- 
thing Mr.  Debs  said.  A  large  number  of  women  were 
also  present. 

*'  'This  is  about  the  time  of  the  year,'  said  Debs, 
'when  the  orators  of  the  capitalist  parties — the  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans — are  coming  before  you  and 
telling  you  how  intelligent  you  are — they  tell  you  how 
intelligent  you  are  to  keep  you  ignorant.  We  tell  you 
how  ignorant  you  are  to  make  you  intelligent.  You 
produce  all  wealth  and  have  none  of  it.  The  capitalist 
class  produces  no  wealth  and  has  all  of  it.  You  make 
automobiles  and — walk.' 

"  'And  get  run  over,'  shouted  a  voice  from  the  audi- 
ence. ' ' 

Further  down  the  column,  the  Times  said : 

"When  the  'Red  Special'  bearing  Eugene  V.  Debs  and 
his  party  reached  here  at  6:30  o'clock  last  night  there 
were  several  hundred  men  and  women  waiting.  They 
swarmed  into  the  cars  to  see  the  candidate.  But  Mr. 
Debs  with  his  secretary  had  shut  himself  up  in  his  pri- 
vate office.  He  would  see  no  one — and  small  wonder  at 
that,  for  he  had  made  ten  speeches,  some  of  them  forty 
minutes  in  length,  since  leaving  Des  Moines  at  six 
0  'clock  in  the  morning.  .  .  .  The  train  was  getting  more 
behind  schedule  at  each  special  stop  but  there  was  no 
other  graceful  way  out  of  the  predicament  when  a 
crowd  of  farmers  surrounded  the  train  yelling  'Debs!' 
At  little  towns  the  'Red  Special'  band  tried  to  put  off 
the  enthusiasts  with  a  lively  rendition  of  'Marseillaise,' 


FOUE  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       197 

but  there  was  nothing  doing  in  that  line.  The  French 
anthem  only  made  them  worse." 

Several  times  while  the  ''Red  Special"  was  touring 
the  western  part  of  the  country  Debs  issued  appeals 
to  the  membership  of  the  Socialist  Party  for  more  funds 
to  enable  the  train  to  invade  the  east.  Once,  at  least, 
there  seemed  to  be  a  likelihood  that  the  "Red  Special" 
would  have  to  be  abandoned  for  lack  of  financial  fuel; 
but  this  discouraging  barrier  was  surmounted  and  the 
train  rolled  on  to  the  eastward  with  its  band  and  cam- 
ipaigners.  On  September  29,  the  train  rolled  into 
Toledo,  Ohio.  Thousands  of  people  were  at  the  depot 
to  welcome  Debs  and  the  "Red  Special,"  among  them 
being  Brand  Whitlock,  who  was  at  that  time  mayor  of 
the  city.  Mr,  Whitlock,  who  has  since  become  an  inter- 
national figure  because  of  the  part  he  played  in  aiding 
Belgium,  not  only  greeted  Debs  most  cordially,  but  the 
newspapers  of  that  period  report  that  he  contributed  five 
dollars  to  the  "Red  Special"  campaign  fund.  A  tre- 
mendous parade  was  held  in  which  Mayor  Whitlock 
took  part,  the  papers  so  reported.  That  evening  a  rous- 
ing meeting  was  held  at  Memorial  Hall,  which  held 
2,000  people.  Several  overflow  meetings  were  addressed 
by  Debs.  Congressman  Isaac  R.  Sherwood,  of  Ohio,  ap- 
plauded Debs's  arraignment  of  the  "System." 

The  Miners'  Magazine  for  September,  1908,  com- 
mented upon  the  fact  that  Debs  had  been  refused  per- 
mission to  speak  in  the  famous  Stanford  University 
Chapel,  in  San  Francisco.    Said  the  Miners*  Magazine: 

"...  The  class  which  dominates  this  institution  feel 
no  generous  thrills  vibrating  their  hearts  for  the  class 
whose  cause  Debs  advocates  and  defends.  It  is  doubtful 
if  Christ  returned  to  earth  and  preached  the  same  doc- 
trines that  He  proclaimed  nineteen  hundred  years  ago 
that  He  would  have  been  admitted  to  the  chapel  of 
Stanford  University. ' ' 

San  Francisco  was  not  the  only  city,  by  any  means, 


198   DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

that  made  it  difficult  for  Debs  to  have  his  hearing  be- 
fore the  people.  In  Philadelphia  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  police  department  tried  to  raise  barriers  in  the  way 
of  Debs  speaking  there.  The  Philadelphia  Socialists 
sought  to  obtain  the  Grand  Opera  House  for  the  Debs 
meeting  which  was  scheduled  for  October  11th.  Charles 
W.  Ervin,  now  editor-in-chief  of  the  New  York  Call, 
who  for  many  years  has  been  a  faithful  and  loyal  devo- 
tee to  the  cardinal  principles  of  social  and  economic  jus- 
tice, and  personally  friendly  to  Debs,  was  at  that  time 
chairman  of  the  Campaign  Committee  for  Philadelphia. 
The  manager  of  the  Grand  Opera  House  informed  Mr. 
Ervin  by  letter  that  Debs  could  not  have  the  Grand 
Opera  House  except  by  order  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Safety.  Mr.  Ervin  adjusted  the  matter  by  hav- 
ing Debs  speak  in  two  smaller  halls  instead  of  the 
large  one. 

Before  Debs's  humanistic  qualities  and  kindliness  had 
become  a  matter  of  almost  universal  knowledge,  and 
before  many  people  knew  that  every  phase  and  angle 
of  his  many-sided  life  was  spotless,  he  was  subjected  time 
and  again  to  unfounded  accusations  concerning  his  pub- 
lic career.  Most  of  the  time  Debs  did  not  bother  to 
answer  these  taunts  and  calumnies.  Like  every  other 
self-respecting  public  man,  he  allowed  his  life's  record 
to  stand  as  the  answer  to  those  who  would  revile  him 
and  bear  false  witness  against  him.  In  1908  when  he 
was  assailed  by  some  of  his  political  adversaries,  the 
Socialist  National  Campaign  Committee  at  Chicago 
caused  to  be  published  in  the  Socialist  press  of  the 
country  a  letter  written  the  year  before  by  the  mayor  of 
Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  Debs's  home  city.  The  letter 
follows : 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       199 

Executive  Department      ♦ 
City  of  Terre  Haute,  Indiana 
James  Lyons,  Mayor 

"February  27,  1907. 
**Mr.  John  Cuthbertson, 

*' Crooked  Lake,  Michigan. 

*  *  Dear  Sir : — ^Yours  of  the  24th  inst.  received  request- 
ing information  without  any  political  bias  as  to  the 
standing  of  Eugene  V.  Debs  in  this  community. 

*'In  reply,  will  state  that  while  the  overwhelming  ma- 
jority of  the  people  here  are  opposed  to  the  social  and 
economic  theories  of  Mr.  Debs,  that  there  is  not  perhaps 
a  single  man  in  this  city  who  enjoys  to  a  greater  degree 
than  Mr.  Debs  the  affection,  love  and  profound  respect 
of  the  entire  community. 

**He  is  cultured,  brilliant,  eloquent,  scholarly  and 
companionable,  loveable  in  his  relations  with  his  fellow- 
man.  At  home  he  is  known  as  'Gene,  and  that  perhaps 
indicates  our  feeling  towards  him  as  a  man,  independent 
of  his  political  views. 

''He  numbers  his  friends  and  associates  among  all 
classes,  rich  and  poor,  and  some  of  the  richest  men  here, 
people  who  by  very  instinct  are  bitter  against  Socialism, 
are  warm  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Debs. 

''His  personal  life  is  spotless  and  he  enjoys  a  beautiful 
home  life.  Few  public  men  have  been  more  persistently 
and  cruelly  misrepresented  by  the  press  of  the  country. 

"When  such  men  as  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  the 
Hoosier  Poet,  comes  to  Terre  Haute,  he  is  always  the 
guest  of  Mr.  Debs. 

"If  you  care  to  use  this  letter  in  any  way  for  pub- 
lication, you  are  at  liberty  to  do  so.  Every  word  I  have 
written,  and  I  am  not  in  sympathy  with  Mr.  Debs's 
views  on  Socialism,  I  know  would  be  heartily  indorsed 
by  the  people  of  this  city.        Very  respectfully, 

"James  Lyons, 

"Mayor." 


200    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

On  October  2,  1908,  the  ''Red  Special"  arrived  in 
New  York  state,  and  this  was  cause  for  great  demonstra- 
tions in  every  city  and  town.  At  Rochester,  for  in- 
stance, 5,000  people  struggled  for  paid  admission  into 
Convention  Hall.  Many  hundreds  more  were  unable  to 
edge  their  way  inside.  Debs  often  falls  into  epigrams 
in  his  speeches,  as,  for  instance,  at  Rochester  when  he 
said: 

''The  capitalist  refers  to  you  as  mill  hands,  farm 
hands,  factory  hands,  machine  hands — ^hands,  hands! 
You  are  the  horny-handed  sons  of  toil.  If  you  ought 
to  be  proud  of  your  hands  the  capitalist  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  his. 

"A  capitalist  would  feel  insulted  if  you  called  him  a 
hand.  He's  a  head.  The  trouble  is  he  owns  his  head 
and  your  hands." 

Four  days  before  Debs  spoke  at  the  Hippodrome  in 
New  York  City  every  seat  in  the  great  amphitheater  was 
sold.  One  of  the  newspapers  of  New  York  City  in  com- 
menting on  the  meeting,  said: 

' '  With  a  deafening  roar  10,000  men  and  women  trans- 
formed the  interior  of  the  Hippodrome  into  a  moun- 
tainous red-capped  wave  of  revolution  that  whistled 
and  screamed  for  Socialism  when  Eugene  V.  Debs  ap- 
peared and  answered  the  cry  of  humanity.  For  twenty- 
five  minutes  the  full-lunged  protest  gave  tongue  to  the 
protest  against  the  'System'  in  an  unparalleled  demon- 
stration." 

"What  was  deemed  still  more  remarkable  about  the 
meeting,"  spoke  another  newspaper,  "was  that  all  these 
people  had  paid  from  15  cents  to  50  cents  for  admission. 
No  other  political  party  than  the  Socialist  could  do  the 
same  thing." 

After  this  giant  meeting  had  closed  Debs  dodged  back 
of  the  stage  to  the  exit  so  quickly  that  the  audience  did 
not  know  he  was  escaping.  They  filed  into  the  street, 
and  several  thousand  enthusiasts  struggled  to  keep  his 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       201 

waiting  automobile  from  turning  a  wheel  toward  his 
hotel.  They  wanted  to  meet  the  man  himself.  They 
demanded  to  touch  the  hand  of  the  human  dynamo 
that  had  ignited  the  latent  moral  and  spiritual  powers 
within  them,  transfiguring  them  from  mere  workaday 
automatons  into  flaming  symbols  of  revolt. 

Joshua  Wanhope,  an  old  sailor,  and  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  writers  of  the  Socialist  movement,  had  been 
campaigning  with  Debs  on  the  ''Red  Special"  as  candi- 
date for  governor  of  New  York.  Of  the  Hippodrome 
meeting  "Wanhope  said : 

''If  Roosevelt  were  here  I  believe  he  would  remark, 
with  amazement,  upon  the  astonishing  increase  of  'un- 
desirable citizens!'  It  might  impress  Mr.  Gompers  with 
the  untruth  of  his  assertion  as  to  Debs  being  the  Apostle 
of  Failure.  This  audience  does  not  look  like  failure, 
or,  if  it  do€S,  the  English  language  needs  a  new  dic- 
tionary. I  never  was  an  optimist.  But  unless  all  signs 
fail,  this  generation  is  not  going  to  pass  until  we  see 
Socialism  realized." 

One  of  the  best  speeches  of  Debs's  career  was  deliv- 
ered at  that  Hippodrome  meeting.  We  should  like  to 
set  down  here  a  few  of  the  salient  points  which  he  de- 
veloped in  his  oration: 

'   THE  PASSING  OP  CAPITALISM 

"...  Capitalism  has  fulfilled  its  mission,  for  the 
capitalist  class  can  no  longer  control  the  productive 
forces,  nor  manage  industry,  nor  give  emplojrment  to 
the  workers.  And  so  the  historic  mission  of  this  move- 
ment is  to  abolish  capitalism,  based  upon  private  own- 
ership, and  recognize  society  upon  a  basis  of  collective 
ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  distribu- 
tion. This  change  is  coming  just  as  certain  as  I  stand 
in  your  presence.  It  will  come  as  soon  as  you  are  ready 
for  it,  and  you  will  be  ready  for  it  just  as  soon  as  you 
understand  what  Socialism  means. 


202    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

*' INDIVIDUALITY 

**.  .  .  You  read  in  the  newspapers  that  under  Social- 
ism you  will  be  reduced  to  the  dead  level  of  degradation. 
You  are  there  now.  They  tell  you  that  Socialism  will 
destroy  your  individuality.  You  haven't  got  any.  The 
wage  slave  has  no  individuality.  What  is  individuality  ? 
It  is  the  expression  unhampered  of  the  individual's 
mental  and  moral  and  spiritual  qualities.  It  is  the  hu- 
man being  in  full  bloom.  The  thirty  million  wage  work- 
ers who  are  dependent  upon  the  capitalist  system  for 
work  are  walking  apologies,  most  of  them.  They  have 
hinges  in  their  knees.  They  doff  their  hats  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  two  by  four  boss.  They  are  repressed  and 
cramped  and  their  aspirations  are  stifled,  because  they 
have  got  to  beg  for  work,  and  therefor  they  have  to  beg 
to  live,  and  they  have  no  individuality. 


''They  tell  you  that  Socialism  would  break  up  the 
family,  destroy  the  home.  There  are  80,000  divorces  a 
year  under  capitalism.  Capitalism  destroys  the  family 
all  over  this  country  in  all  the  circling  hours  of  the 
day  and  night.  How  about  the  families  of  the  five  mil- 
lion who  have  no  work?  Who  have  got  to  leave  their 
families,  or  their  huts,  or  their  hovels,  or  their  lairs  in 
a  vain  search  somewhere  else  for  other  masters,  and 
after  they  reach  a  point  four  or  five  hundred  miles 
away  from  home  and  their  last  penny  is  gone  and  their 
clothes  are  seedy  they  receive  a  letter  from  home.  Ob- 
serve them  closely  as  they  read  it ;  you  will  find  the  tears 
coursing  down  their  cheeks.  The  wife  reports  that  the 
rent  is  due  and  that  she  and  the  children  are  about  to 
be  evicted  and  put  upon  the  street.  The  children  are 
hungry.  These  men  become  tramps.  Their  lives  are 
destroyed,  their  homes  are  wrecked,  and  the  happiness 
of  all  these  people  is  wrecked. 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       203 

-   THE  FRUIT  OF  CAPITALISM 

* '  Nothing  is  certain  in  this  system  except  uncertainty. 
You  may  have  $50,000  and  die  in  an  almshouse  and  sleep 
your  last  sleep  in  a  Potter's  field.  If  you  are  a  work- 
ingman  and  you  have  a  little  girl  of  eight  or  ten,  and 
your  wage  is  small,  or  you  are  out  of  a  job  at  the  very 
age  when  this  child  ought  to  be  under  the  care  of  a 
loving  mother  and  have  a  comfortable  home,  and  be  out 
in  the  sunlight  and  have  wholesome  food — and  nothing 
is  so  easily  produced — the  child  is  under  the  hunger 
whip  of  capitalism,  and  at  eight  or  ten  she  has  got  to 
go  to  a  mill  or  a  factory  and  she  stands  beside  the  ma- 
chine all  day  long.  She  feeds  the  machine.  The  ma- 
chine starves  her.  If  it  be  written  in  the  book  of  fate 
that  that  blue-eyed  child  of  yours  that  you  love  far 
more  than  you  do  your  own  life  .  .  .  shall  perish  in  a 
brothel  hell,  I  want  you  to  know  that  you  are  respon- 
sible for  it  if  you  support  this  System. 

AN  OBLIGATION 

*'.  .  .  You  and  I  who  are  on  earth  to-day  are  under 
great  obligation  to  the  splendid  men,  the  magnificent 
women,  who  made  sacrifices  that  we  might  enjoy  some 
degree  of  liberty,  some  degree  of  civilization.  We  can 
only  discharge  that  obligation  by  doing  or  trying  to  do 
something  in  the  interest  of  those  who  are  to  come  after 
us.  It  ought  to  be  the  high  mission  of  every  man  and 
woman  to  do  something  to  make  it  possible  for  some 
child  to  come  to  his  or  to  her  grave  and  place  a  flower 
where  he  or  she  sleeps  and  say,  'This  world  is  better 
and  brighter  for  me  because  of  your  having  been  here. ' 

THE  END  OF  WARS 

**.  .  .  With  the  end  of  industrial  and  commercial 
competition  comes  the  end  of  war,  and  with  the  begin- 
ning of  world-wide  cooperation  comes  the  inauguration 


204    DEBS^AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  the  reign  of  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  toward  all 
men.  So  that  when  this  movement  sweeps  into  power, 
and  establishes  an  industrial  democracy,  every  man  will 
have  the  inalienable  right  to  work,  will  receive  what  he 
produces,  may  stand  forth  a  free  man,  enjoy  the  fruit 
of  his  labor,  have  a  comfortable  home,  a  happy  wife, 
his  children  at  play  or  at  school;  and  in  that  hour  the 
badge  of  labor  will  be  the  only  badge  of  nobility.'' 

On  October  23,  1908,  Debs  spoke  at  Evansville,  In- 
diana. Mr.  Taft  made  a  speech  in  the  same  city  that 
night  and  the  newspapers  of  that  city  commented  upon 
the  fact  that  more  people  had  paid  an  admission  fee  to 
hear  Debs  than  those  who  went  to  hear  Mr.  Taft  at  a 
free  meeting. 

On  the  eve  of  the  national  election  in  1908,  October 
28,  the  national  Socialist  movement  felt  itself  consider- 
ably strengthened  by  the  fact  that  Charles  Edward  Rus- 
sell, noted  magazine  writer  and  author  of  several  books 
on  social  and  economic  subjects,  definitely  allied  himself 
with  the  Socialist  Party  by  applying  for  membership. 
^'It  seems  to  me  that  essential  conditions  have  grown 
worse  instead  of  better,"  said  Mr.  Russell.  "The  So- 
cialist Party  is  the  only  party  that  promises  to  deal 
adequately  with  these  conditions,  hence  all  my  sympa- 
thies are  with  the  Socialist  Party."  At  the  same  time, 
Lincoln.  Steffens,  radical  American  publicist,  while  not 
allying  himself  with  the  party,  in  a  public  statement  to 
the  press,  urged  the  people  to  support  Debs  for  Presi- 
dent and  the  other  Socialist  candidates.  Mr.  Russell,  in 
1916,  broke  away  from  the  Socialist  Party  on  the  war 
question,  favoring  American  preparedness  for  battle 
with  Germany,  while  the  major  sentiment  in  the  party 
was  pacifistic  at  that  time.  Debs  was  one  of  the  first 
persons  to  come  to  Mr.  Russell's  defense  in  a  statement 
in  the  party's  press,  saying  that  while  he  heartily  dis- 
agreed with  ]\Ir.  Russell's  views  on  preparedness  and 
the  part  America  should  play  in  the  World  War,  yet  he 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       205 

acknowledged  the  courage  and  candor  that  Mr.  Russell 
had  displayed  in  stating  his  position  in  face  of  almost  a 
hundred  per  cent,  opposition  of  his  party. 

One  of  the  last  campaign  speeches  that  Debs  made 
in  that  year  was  at  Woodstock,  Illinois,  the  town  in 
which  he  had  served  a  six-months'  jail  sentence  thirteen 
years  before  for  contempt  of  court  in  connection  with 
the  American  Railway  Union  strike.  Debs  spoke  from 
the  steps  of  the  jail  to  half  a  thousand  people,  among 
whom  was  Mr.  Eckert,  who  was  Debs's  jailer  in  1895. 
Debs  referred  to  the  jail  as  the  college  where  he  had 
been  educated,  and  there  was  no  trace  of  bitterness  in 
his  words  as  he  showed  a  few  of  his  friends  the  cell 
where  he  had  been  confined  as  a  defiant  labor  unionist. 

The  last  campaign  speech  that  Debs  made  that  year 
was  in  Chicago,  the  day  before  election,  in  the  Seventh 
Regiment  Armory,  where  a  crowd  estimated  at  16,000 
people  struggled  to  hear  him.  Before  the  meeting,  there 
was  a  parade  in  which  14,000  Chicago  workers  marched 
along  a  route  extending  two  miles.  Debs,  on  foot, 
marched  at  the  head  of  this  great  labor  procession,  which 
recalled  the  distant  days  when  a  similar  demonstra- 
tion had  been  made  in  his  honor  upon  his  release  from 
Woodstock  Jail. 

At  his  home  in  Terre  Haute,  surrounded  by  his  wife 
and  his  brother  Theodore,  members  of  his  immediate 
family  and  a  few  friends,  Debs,  on  election  night,  was 
enjoying  his  first  rest  in  many  arduous  months.  His 
was  not  the  concern  which  must  have  possessed  Mr.  Taft 
and  Mr.  Bryan,  for  he  knew  well  enough  he  had  not  been 
elected.  He  had  not  campaigned  for  that  purpose. 
Had  the  miracle  of  miracles  happened,  and  he  had 
found  himself  actually  the  President-elect  there  would 
not  have  been  an  unhappier  man  than  he,  for  that  office 
would  have  imposed  upon  him  the  duty  of  performing 
many  unkind  and  questionable,  if  subtle,  acts  such  as 
must  needs  be  performed  by  any  public  officer,  no  mat- 


206    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

ter  how  high-spirited  he  may  be,  and  'Gene  Debs  simply 
could  not  do  an  unkind  thing  or  perform  any  act  that 
would  redound  to  the  injury  of  a  human  being — he 
could  not  do  that,  not  even  to  be  President  of  the 
United  States.  But  he  had  waged  an  educational  cam- 
paign for  Socialism,  the  like  which  this  country  had 
never  seen  before.  More  than  that,  he  had  left  a  trail 
of  light  wherever  he  had  gone,  and  had  brought  cheer 
and  hope  to  the  workers. 

Before  the  votes  were  even  counted  he  telegraphed  to 
the  party  press  a  statement  in  the  course  of  which  he 
said : 

' '  The  campaign  is  ended,  and  my  very  first  thought  is 
of  the  kindness  shown  me  and  the  loyal  support  given 
me  in  every  part  of  the  country.  "While  at  times  the 
*  exactions  were  trying,  I  was  sustained  every  hour  by  the 
loving  care  and  unflagging  support  of  comrades.  To 
me  this  was  the  beautiful  and  satisfying  feature  of  the 
campaign.  It  expressed  the  true  spirit  of  Socialist  com- 
radeship, which  is  the  making  of  our  movement,  and 
which  will  sustain  it  through  every  ordeal  until  it  is 
Anally  triumphant." 

Despite  the  tremendous  meetings,  wild  enthusiasm  and 
the  ''Red  Special,"  the  Debs  vote  in  1908  showed  but  a 
slight  increase  over  that  of  four  years  before.  The 
Socialist  vote  in  1908  was  420,973.* 

The  1912  convention  of  the  Socialist  Party,  which  was 
held  at  Indianapolis,  was  even  more  disorderly,  if  by 
that  term  enthusiasm  is  implied,  than  Brand  Whitlock 
had  discovered  at  the  1908  convention  in  Chicago.  Dur- 
ing those  four  years  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
"World  had  grown  to  be  an  organization  wielding  con- 
siderable influence  in  industries  that  employed  large 
numbers  of  unskilled  workers,  and  poorly  paid  skilled 
ones.  Debs  had  been  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in  the 
initial  organization  of  the  I.  W.  W.  in  1905.    Even  be- 

*  Figures  from  the  '* World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia,"  1919. 


FOUR  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS       207 

fore  that  period  he  had  taken  his  stand  for  industrial 
unionism  as  against  trade  unionism.  In  1908  the 
I.  W.  W.  eliminated  the  political  clause  from  its  Pre- 
amble, an  act  which  Debs  termed  ''a  monstrous  blun- 
der."* Despite  his  disagreement  with  the  Chicago  fac- 
tion of  the  I.  W.  W.,  who  were  non-political,  Debs  con- 
tinued to  entertain  a  strong  regard  for  the  I.  W.  W. 
movement  generally  because  of  its  uncompromising  at- 
titude on  all  economic  and  industrial  questions  affecting 
the  real  wage  earners  of  America. 

When  the  delegates  assembled  in  1912  at  Indianapolis 
it  was  apparent  that  a  serious  division  would  come  in 
the  party  because  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  who  counted  among 
its  membership  many  Socialists.  The  conservative  wing 
of  the  party  maintained  that  the  I.  W.  W.  was  a  de- 
structive organization  because  it  openly  advocated  ''sa- 
botage" and  "direct  action"  against  employers,  and, 
moreover,  discouraged  political  action.  William  D. 
Haywood,  who  was  a  member  of  the  National  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Socialist  Party,,  and  at  the  same 
time  active  in  the  councils  of  the  I.  W.  W.,  led  the  fight 
of  ''the  Reds"  in  that  convention.  Despite  distinct 
division  in  the  convention  between  these  two  elements, 
when  the  time  came  for  choosing  a  presidential  candi- 
date, it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  Debs  would  be 
nominated  for  the  fourth  consecutive  time.  Both  sides 
could,  and  did,  accommodate  their  tactical  differences, 
for  both  factions  knew  that  Debs,  more  than  any  other 
man  in  the  American  labor  movement,  stood  solidly  and 
squarely  for  the  complete  overthrow  of  the  capitalist 
system  by  both  industrial  and  political  methods,  intelli- 
gently and  peaceably  applied,  and  in  the  final  analysis 
that  was  the  aim  of  both  the  I.  W.  W.  and  the  Socialist 
Party. 

As  one  observer  at  the  convention  put  it,  "The  next 

*Page  252,  ''The  I.  W.  W.,  A  Study  of  American  Syndicalism," 
by  Paul  Frederick  Brissenden. 


208    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

business  was  the  nomination  for  president  on  the  So- 
cialist ticket,  and  a  roll  call  being  ordered,  Dan  Hogan 
got  a  chance  to  yell  for  Debs.  After  that  there  was 
nothing  to  it.  It  was  clearly  evident  that  both  sides 
were  ready  to  get  together  on  Debs. ' '  *  The  total  vote 
of  the  "delegates  for  President  showed  165  for  Debs;  56 
for  Emil  Seidel,  former  Socialist  mayor  of  Milwaukee, 
"Wisconsin,  and  54  for  Charles  Edward  Russell,  of  New 
York.  Mr.  Seidel  was  chosen  Vice-Presidential  nominee, 
Mr.  Russell  declining  to  accept  the  nomination. 

Debs  made  a  whirlwind  campaign  in  1912,  with  three 
adversaries.  President  Taft,  Woodrow  "Wilson  and  Theo- 
dore Roosevelt.  When  the  votes  were  counted  Debs  had 
polled  897,011,t  more  than  doubling  his  vote  in  1908. 

At  this  moment,  with  Debs  in  a  prison  cell,  he  is 
again  being  talked  of  in  the  Socialist  press,  as  the  party's 
choice  for  President  in  1920.  **We  will  run  him  for  the 
White  House  from  his  prison  cell  in  Atlanta,"  some  of 
his  followers  assert,  arguing  that  if  Debs  is  still  a  pris- 
oner during  the  next  campaign  that  fact  would  make 
him  a  highly  dramatic  figure  in  the  political  equation. 

*  Page  827,  International  Socialist  Eeview,  June,  1912. 

t  Figures  from  the  "World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia,"  1919. 


CHAPTER   IX 
LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOVER 

GOD  was  feeling  mighty  good  when  he  made  'Gene 
Debs,  and  he  didn't  have  anything  else  to  do  all 
day/'  wrote  James  Whitcomb  Riley,  the  ''Hoosier 
Poet." 

The  great  minds  and  tender  hearts  of  America  have 
long  been  attracted  to  Debs,  and  this  is  especially  true 
of  the  poets.  It  is  extremely  doubtful  if  any  other 
single  American,  not  excepting  Lincoln,  has  inspired 
the  poets  of  his  native  country  more  than  'Gene  Debs. 
We  are  not  speaking  now  of  the  Socialist  poets — persons 
of  his  own  political  faith  and  economic  creed — ^but  rather 
of  those  singers,  past  and  present,  who  have  brought 
laughter  and  tears  to  the  public  generally.  Debs  has 
at  one  time  or  another  been  linked  with  the  best  and 
most  famous  of  them  by  silver  threads  of  fellowship. 
One  of  the  earliest  of  those  was  Riley.  Debs  soon  per- 
ceived the  genius  of  the  Indianian.  Away  back  in  those 
early  years — the  eighties — when  he  was  tramping  the 
country  trying  to  organize  the  railroad  firemen  he  found 
time  to  drop  off  at  Indianapolis  to  see  Riley.  The  poet 
was  not  at  home.  But  Debs  arranged  with  the  poet's 
manager  to  have  him  come  to  Terre  Haute.  Debs  has 
told  this  story  himself,  and  we  shall  let  him  tell  it  now : 

*'The  first  appearance  of  the  Hoosier  Poet  in  our 
city  was  anything  but.  a  shining  success,  although  the 
poet  gave  a  brilliant  exhibition  of  his  wonderful  powers 
as  a  mimic  and  as  an  impersonator  of  the  characters 
sketched  in  his  poems  and  studies.  The  entertainment 
was  given  in  the  old  Dowling  Hall,  and  there  was  a 
painfully  diminutive  attendance. 

2PD  * 


210    DEB^— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

''Riley  himself  had  more  than  measured  up  to  ex- 
pectations. He  was,  indeed,  a  delicious  treat  to  those 
who  could  appreciate  his  quaint  humor,  his  melting 
pathos,  his  poetic  imagery  and  his  flawless,  faithful  im- 
personation. His  hoosier  farmer  was  fresh  from  the 
soil,  a  breathing,  boasting,  homespun  reality.  His  dan- 
dified schoolmaster  teaching  a  country  class  was  the 
very  perfection  of  mimic  art,  while  his  child-stories,  told 
in  their  own  simple,  guileless  fashion  and  accentuated 
with  their  own  eager,  impulsive  gestures,  were  too  mar- 
velously  true  to  nature  to  admit  even  of  the  faintest 
suspicion  that,  in  heart  and  imagination,  the  poet  had 
outgrown  his  own  Elysian  childhood. 

''Surely,  I  argued  to  myself  that  night,  this  settles 
the  question  of  Riley's  genius,  and  never  again  will  the 
God-gifted  Hoosier  Poet  be  humiliated  by  so  paltry  an 
audience  in  Terre  Haute.  On  his  next  visit  he  will 
without  doubt  be  greeted  by  an  overflowing  house  and 
given  a  rapturous  ovation. 

' '  But  alas !  the  second  audience  was  even  smaller  than 
the  first.  My  surprise  and  mortification  may  be  im- 
agined. But  I  was  more  than  ever  determined  that  the 
people  of  Terre  Haute  should  see  James  Whitcomb 
Riley  and  realize  that  a  poet  had  sprung  up  out  of  their 
own  soil — a  native  wild  flower  at  their  very  feet — whose 
fame  would  spread  all  over  the  land  and  beyond  the 
seas  to  the  most  distant  shores.  A  third  attempt  resulted 
in  another  dismal  failure.*' 

Debs  says  that  it  was  not  until  some  few  years  later 
that  Riley,  who  had  met  Bill  Nye,  whose  fame  as  a 
humorous  philosopher  was  then  in  the  ascendant,  was 
invited  at  the  instance  of  the  latter  to  appear  before  the 
assembled  authors  and  their  guests  at  their  national 
entertainment  held  at  the  Academy  of  Music  in  New 
York. 

"To  be  sure,'*  says  Debs,  "he  had  already  received 
a  letter  from  Longfellow,  highly  commending  a  poem 


LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOYER  211 

which  chanced  to  come  under  the  eye  of  the  elder  poet, 
but  his  fame  was  chiefly  confined  to  his  native  state  and 
even  there  to  limited  circles.  But  when  he  rendered 
his  dialect  masterpiece,  'When  the  Frost  Is  on  the 
Punkin/  in  his  own  inimitable  style,  he  thrilled  with 
ecstasy  the  cold  and  critical  literary  audience  which 
had  been  surfeited  with  dignified  and  prosaic  discourse, 
and  the  house  echoed  and  reechoed  with  excited  ap- 
plause." 

*'I  remember  once  asking  Riley  if  his  work  came 
easy,''  Debs  said,  ''and  his  witty  answer  came  back  to 
me:  'Easy!  I  should  say  not.  It's  like  grinding  sau- 
sage meat  with  bones  in  it."  On  another  occasion  Debs 
asked  Riley  if  he  had  worked  very  hard  over  a  certain 
task  he  had  performed  and  if  he  felt  tired  when  he  had 
finished  it. 

"I  felt  when  I  had  got  through  with  that  job  as  if  I 
had  given  birth  to   a  rough-shod  colt." 

For  many  years  Debs  and  the  Hoosier  Poet  exchanged 
visits  between  Terre  Haute  and  Indianapolis.  Riley 
lived  in  the  latter  city.  Following  one  of  Debs's  visits  to 
Riley  he  had  sent  the  poet  some  roses  of  which  he  was 
passionately  fond.     Then  came  this  letter  from  Riley: 

"Dear  Debs: — ^Do  you  think  I've  entirely  forgotten 
all  I  owe  you  ?  No :  that  query  is  gratuitous,  and  knowl- 
edge of  your  loyalty  throughout  the  past  forbids  all 
affection  of  questioning  it  now.  But  I  've  been  anything 
but  a  well  man  for  a  long,  long  time,  and  in  consequence 
I've  simply  been  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  expressing 
to  you,  until  now,  my  ripest,  richest  gratitude  for  your 
recent  floral  remembrance.  Tom  Moore  sings  in  effect, — 

* '  *  You  may  break  the  little  bench-legg  'd  poet  if  you  will, 
But  the  scent  of  Debs's  basket  of  roses  will  cling  round 
him  stni!' 

' '  May  this  find  you  as  glad  at  heart  as  your  gift  made 
me,  and  may  your  gentle  interest  in  all  human  kind  never 


212    DEB&— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

wax  nor  wane  though  all  the  stars  of  heaven  keep  up 
their  specialty.  My  love  to  you — ^your  brother,  and  all 
friends,  particularly  Ben  Cox. 

"Affectionately  as  always  yours, 

''J.W.Riley/' 
The  same  visit  of  Debs  to  Riley  and  the  same  bunch  of 
roses  inspired  the  poet  to  sing  of  ''Them  Flowers," 
dedicating  his  song  "To  My  Good  Friend  Eugene  V. 
Debs. ' '    This  is  the  last  of  three  stanzas  of  the  poem : 

**You  see,  it's  like  this,  what  his  weaknesses  is, — 

Them  flowers  makes  him  think  of  the  days 
Of  his  innocent  youth,  that  mother  o'  his. 

And  the  roses  that  she  us't  to  raise: — 
So  here,  all  alone  with  the  roses  you  send — 

Bein'  sick  and  all  trimbly   and  faint, — 
My  eyes  is — my  eyes  is — my  eyes  is — old  friend — 

Is  a-leakin ' — I  'm  blamed  if  they  ain  't !  " 

A  few  more  of  Riley 's  homely  lines  to  'Gene  Debs : 

''Go,  search  the  earth  from  end  to  end. 
And  Where's  a  better  all-round  friend 
Than  Eugene  Debs? — a  man  that  stands 
And  jest  holds  out  in  his  two  hands 
As  warm  a  heart  as  ever  beat 
Betwixt  here  and  the  Mercy  Seat!'' 

Late  in  the  life  of  Wendell  Phillips,  and  early  in  the 
life  of  Debs,  the  two  men  met.  The  suns  and  sorrows 
of  many  years  had  already  shed  their  light  and  shadow 
upon  the  head  of  the  great  orator  and  apostle  of  human 
liberty,  while  the  other  man,  much  younger,  was  yet  to 
come  through  the  sunrise  and  twilight  of  the  years  that 
would  bring  to  him  triumph  and  travail.  It  was  in 
1878,  and  Debs  was  already  touching  elbows  with  the 
protagonists  of  revolt  and  the  active  and  intellectual 
spirits  of  his  day.  Debs  had  invited  "Wendell  Phillips 
to  come  to  Terre  Haute  to  lecture.  The  meeting  was 
poorly  attended.  As  chairman  of  the  lecture  committee 
it  fell  to  Debs  to  pay  the  lecturer  his  fee.    The  audience 


LIBERTAEIAN  AND  LOVER  213 

had  not  been  large  and  the  financial  loss  was  consider- 
able. ''Mr.  Phillips  felt  this  keenly,  and  it  plainly  dis- 
tressed him  not  a  little/'  Debs  wrote  of  the  incident 
many  years  later.  ''  'Please  take  back  part  of  the  fee 
to  cover  your  loss, '  he  said  to  me  in  the  kindest  possible 
way,  when  I  placed  the  money  in  his  hands. 

"  *No,  Mr.  Phillips,'  I  said,  'you  have  earned  it,  it 
is  yours  and  you  must  keep  it.  If  we  had  come  out 
ahead  you  would  have  accepted  no  more  than  your 
fee  and  we  cannot  consent  to  your  accepting  less  than 
the  stipulated  amount.'  He  generously  insisted  upon 
handing  back  part  of  the  money,  but  it  was  as  per- 
sistently declined,  and  he  consented  at  last,  reluctantly, 
to  keep  it.  Behind  the  gentleman  I  could  visualize  the 
man,  the  warrior,  the  liberator,  the  humanitarian,  the 
lover  of  his  kind.  I  did  not  look  upon  him  with  awe,  but 
with  reverence  and  love.  He  had  fought  for  me  and  my 
class  with  all  his  strength  of  body  and  soul  his  whole 
life  long.  He  had  been  hated,  denounced,  and  socially 
exiled  that  I  and  mine  might  live  and  enjoy,  aspire  and 
fulfill,  and  here  he  stood,  and  with  my  own  eyes  I  could 
now  behold  the  man,  meditate  upon  his  greatness,  and 
find  inspiration  in  his  noble  example." 

It  was  in  that  same  period  that  Debs  met  Robert  G. 
Ingersoll.  As  one  of  the  prime  movers  of  the  activities 
of  the  Occidental  Literary  Club  in  Terre  Haute,  Debs 
invited  Ingersoll  to  lecture  under  the  club's  auspices. 
The  hall  in  which  the  meeting  was  held  was  packed  to 
the  doors.  IngersoU's  subject  was  "The  Liberty  of 
Man,  Woman  and  Child."  Debs  introduced  the  famous 
orator  to  the  audience. 

"Never  until  that  night  had  I  heard  real  oratory; 
never  before  had  I  listened  enthralled  to  such  a  flow  of 
genuine  eloquence,"  wrote  Debs  in  his  "Recollections 
of  Ingersoll." 

"The  speaker  was  in  his  prime,  not  yet  forty-five,  tall, 
shapely,  graceful  and  commanding,  the  perfect  picture 


214    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

of  the  beau  ideal  of  his  art.  Never  can  I  forget  his 
features,  his  expressive  eyes,  his  mellifluous  voice,  his 
easy,  graceful  gestures,  and  his  commanding  oratorical 
powers.  He  rippled  along  softly  as  a  meadow  brook  or 
he  echoed  with  the  thunder  of  some  mighty  cataract. 
He  pleaded  for  every  right  and  protested  against  every 
wrong.  His  words  fell  as  pearls  in  sunshine  from  his 
inspired  lips  and  his  impassioned  periods  glowed  with 
the  fervid  enthusiasm  of  their  thrice-eloquent  author.'* 
Debs  tells  how  he  happened  to  be  in  Ingersoll's  room  in 
an  Indianapolis  hotel  when  the  latter  received  a  telegram 
requesting  him  to  deliver  a  lecture  in  Philadelphia  for 
the  benefit  of  Walt  Whitman,  "and  I  can  still  see  his 
fine  features  light  up  as  he  said,  'Certainly  I  will.  It 
will  give  me  real  pleasure  to  be  of  service  to  dear  Old 
Walt.'  "  On  another  occasion  Ingersoll  visited  Terre 
Haute  again  and  Debs  walked  with  him  to  the  railroad 
station.  When  the  train  came  and  Ingersoll  got  aboard 
Debs  made  up  his  mind  in  an  instant  to  go  along  and 
swung  on,  riding  with  him  to  Cincinnati. 

' '  It  was  while  he  was  being  thus  shamefully  maligned, 
misrepresented  and  persecuted  for  denying  that  God 
was  a  monster  and  that  a  roaring  hell  awaited  most  of 
his  children,  that  his  calm  courage,  his  serene  self- 
reliance,  and  his  eloquent  and  fearless  espousal  of  the 
truth  as  he  saw  it,  enlisted  my  sympathy,"  says  Debs 
in  his  ** Recollections."*  '*H'e  stood  his  ground  alone 
and  fought  his  fight  without  compromise  to  the  end.  I 
can  never  forget  how  his  heroic  spirit  stirred  me ;  how  I 
felt  myself  thrilled  and  inspired  by  his  flaming  appeal 
and  impassioned  eloquence.  He  did  more  than  any  other 
man,  living  or  dead,  to  put  out  the  fires  and  fears  of 
hell  and  rid  the  world  of  superstition.  Scarcely  any  one 
outside  of  an  asylum  any  longer  believes  in  the  bar- 
barous dogma  of  an  everlasting  torture  chamber.  The 
Reverend  Billy  Sunday  is  one  of  the  few  monuments  of 

*  Pearson's  Magazine,  1915. 


LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOVER  215 

the  stone-age  of  theology.  He  plagiarizes  Ingersoll  to 
fan  the  dying  embers  into  flame  again  and  to  keep  sal- 
vation on  a  sound  and  paying  commercial  basis. 

"Robert  Ingersoll  could  without  doubt  have  been 
President  of  the  United  States.  But  not  for  one  mo- 
ment was  he  tempted  by  the  lure  of  political  prefer- 
ment. The  highest  office  the  people  had  to  bestow  ap- 
peared contemptible  to  him  because  he  knew  it  could 
be  obtained  only  at  the  politician's  price  of  manhood 
and  self-respect." 

For  a  number  of  years  IngersoH's  birthday,  August 
11,  was  the  occasion  of  a  letter  or  telegram  of  congratula- 
tion from   Debs   and   his  family.     Ingersoll  wrote   in 
acknowledgment  of  one  of  these: 
Walton, 
Dobb  's  Ferry-on-Hudson, 

August  12,   '92. 
*'My  dear  Mr.  Debs: 

"A  thousand  thanks  for  your  beautiful  telegram. 
The  years  are  growing  short.  Time  seems  in  a  hurry 
to  bring  the  birthday  around.  Well,  all  we  can  do  iir 
to  get  what  good  we  can  out  of  the  days  that  pass. 

Each  moment  is  a  bee  that  flies 
With  swift  and  unreturning  wing, 

Giving  its  honey  to  the  wise. 
And  to  the  fool  its  poison  sting. 

' '  I  hope  that  you  and  yours  will  have  honey  all  your 
lives.  We  all  send  best  regards  to  your  father  and 
mother — to  your  sisters  and  to  Mrs,  Debs  and  yourself. 
In  spite  of  the  hot  weather  we  are  all  perfectly  well — ■ 
including  the  baby. 

**With  more  thanks  for  your  kindness,  I  remain, 
**  Yours  always, 

''R.  G.  Ingersoll." 
"Mrs.  Ingersoll  says — 'Give  my  love  to  all' — and  sa 
L" 


216    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

Debs  met  John  Swinton,  the  famous  radical  American 
journalist,  in  the  days  of  the  Pullman  strike.  Swinton 
had  been  one  of  the  staunchest  champions  of  the  rail- 
road workers.  * '  He  stood  face  to  face  with  "Wall  Street, ' ' 
wrote  Debs  of  him,  ''and  charged  it  with  infamous 
crimes,  and  when  John  Swinton  spoke  the  people  lis- 
tened." 

Swinton  had  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  Horace  Greeley, 
Charles  A.  Dana,  the  elder  James  Gordon  Bennett  and 
other  notable  journalists  of  that  period.  He  was  at  one 
time  or  another  editor  and  chief  editorial  writer  of  the 
principal  New  York  daily  newspapers.  But  he  was  fear- 
less and  courageous,  and  he  saw  beneath  superficial  in- 
ferences. That  might  explain  his  early  attraction  to 
Debs.  Swinton  wrote  a  book  during  the  Pullman  strike, 
** Striking  for  Life;  or  Labor's  Side  of  the  Labor  Ques- 
tion. ' '  Like  many  another  sincere  thinker  and  friend  of 
the  people,  Swinton  died  in  poverty  when  he  might  have 
acquired  riches  and  the  plaudits  of  the  public.  ' '  He  was 
truly  great,"  wrote  Debs  of  him,  ''and  uncompromising- 
ly honest,  scorning  to  barter  his  principles  and  convic- 
tions for  a  gilded  cage  and  a  life-ease  of  pampered  self- 
indulgence  to  soften  his  brain,  eat  out  his  hesirt,  and 
petrify  his  soul. 

"I  can  still  hear  him  as  he  held  my  hand  in  his 
humble  flat  in  New  York,  as  he  put  me  through  a  course 
of  questioning  as  to  how  much  I  could  stand  for  the  sake 
of  labor:  'They'll  break  your  heart.'  When  I  an- 
swered, 'I'll  not  let  'em,'  he  said,  'Bravo!'  " 

The  very  thing  that  made  the  rich  and  powerful  and 
the  ignorant  hate  and  condemn  Debs  in  those  years  of 
industrial  turmoil  endeared  him  to  the  heart  of  John 
Swinton.  A  fine  eulogy  of  Debs  by  Swinton  was  in- 
spired by  the  former's  imprisonment  in  a  Chicago  jail 
in  those  days.    This  he  included  in  his  book : 

"I  am  not  afraid  thus  to  praise  Eugene  Victor  Debs, 
though  he  is  a  new  figure  in  the  gallery  of  my  statuary. 


LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOVER  217 

I  praise  him  though  he  be  a  victim  of  Grosscup's  ruth- 
less law ;  though  he  has  been  assailed  by  Cleveland  and 
Olney,  Pullman  and  Egan,  Schofield  and  Miles,  by  the 
rapacious  corporations,  the  dastardly  plutocracy,  the 
Sodomite  preachers,  the  Satanic  press,  and  our  bribe- 
taking Congressmen.  I  praise  him,  though  he  is  in 
prison." 

On  July  5,  1894,  Swinton  wrote  to  Debs  as  follows : 

**You  are  waging  a  Napoleonic  battle  amidst  the  ad- 
miration of  millions.  God  give  you  the  victory  for  the 
sake  of  all  mankind.  ...  I  wrote  to  President  Cleveland 
three  days  ago.     Be  strong,  Brother  Debs.'' 

While  Debs  was  in  jail  at  Woodstock,  Swinton  wrote 
on  July  17,  1895: 

''You  do  not  seem  to  have  been  aware  that  I  was  in 
the  prison  with  you  by  day  and  by  night,  during  the 
past  month.  Never  a  word  have  you  spoken  to  me, 
though  you  were  in  my  company.  'Not  a  mutineer  walks 
handcuffed  into  jail  but  I  am  handcuffed  to  him  and  walk 
by  his  side.'  I  have  not  at  any  time  thought  you  cared 
for  my  praises,  so  I  shall  not  praise  you  now.  But  I 
believe  you  are  of  stout  heart,  and  I  must  hope  you  are 
not  depressed  in  spirit.  Be  strong!  I  know  you  will 
be  faithful  unto  death.  I  send  you  my  best  love. 
P.  S. — Sunday  of  this  week  was  the  anniversary  of  the 
Fall  of  the  Bastile." 

In  1897,  when  Swinton  learned  that  the  Railroad 
Managers'  Association  were  determined  to  stamp  out  of 
industrial  life  the  American  Railway  Union,  and  that 
their  detectives  were  dogging  the  footsteps  of  Debs  day 
and  night,  he  wrote  on  June  30: 

"The  strength  of  your  faith,  the  liveliness  of  your 
hopes,  the  persistency  of  your  valor,  the  breadth  of  your 
thought,  and  the  energy  of  your  genius  fill  me  with 
admiration.  These  things  belong  to  that  kind  of  Amer- 
icanism which  is  ever  regenerative." 

Debs  was  forever  paying  tribute  and  homage  to  the 


218    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

heroes  and  martyrs  of  his  country.  His  writings  and 
his  letters  are  filled  with  words  of  kindness  and  gentle 
thoughts  for  those  who  have  struggled  to  make  this 
planet  a  better  and  a  brighter  place.  Of  Swinton  he 
wrote : 

*'The  world  owes  more,  far  more,  to  John  Swinton 
than  it  knows  or  perhaps  ever  can  know.  He  was  one 
of  the  real  heroes  of  American  history.  He  lived  and 
labored  wholly  for  his  fellowmen.  He  struggled  bravely 
with  all  the  adverse  fates  and  forces  that  others  might 
be  spared  the  pains  and  privations  that  fell  to  his  lot 
and  have  life  richer  and  more  abundant.  Aye,  he  fought 
as  heroically  and  unselfishly  for  humanity  as  any  man 
that  ever  won  the  crown  of  martyrdom." 

Debs  delights  in  reminiscencing  about  Eugene  Field, 
the  poet  and  humorist.  These  choice  spirits  first  met 
in  April,  1893,  and  although  their  personal  attachment 
endured  only  for  a  short  year,  Field  dying  suddenly  in 
his  forty-fourth  year,  in  1894,  Debs  owns  that  he  never 
had  a  truer  friend. 

Within  a  few  hours  after  Debs  and  Field  first  met, 
the  poet  returned  with  copies  of  his  books  beautifully 
inscribed  and  these  are  now  among  the  treasured  posses- 
sions in  Debs's  library.  Debs  writes  of  Field's  life  in 
the  Rockies:* 

'*  Eugene  Field  was  never  more  at  home  than  among 
these  sturdy  pioneers  who  opened  the  treasure  chambers 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  scattered  their  gleaming 
secrets  broadcast  over  the  continent.  They  were  after 
his  own  heart  and  he  rejoiced  like  the  big  boy  he  was, 
in  having  found  his  way  to  the  golden  west  and  for 
living  for  once  among  God's  own  people.  No  wonder 
the  change  came  upon  him  like  a  revelation  and  attuned 
his  muse  to  the  sweet  minstrelsy  that  was  soon  to  carry 
his  name  back  to  the  Hampshire  Hills  where  he  had 

*  Pearson 's  Magazine. 


LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOVER  219 

spent  his  boyhood  and  echo  his  fame  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  country/' 

Field  once  came  to  Terre  Haute  with  George  W. 
Cable,  the  Southern  novelist.  Debs  says  that  the  opera 
house  was  crowded  and  Field  captured  the  audience 
by  his  simplicity  in  reciting  his  charming  bits  of  child- 
hood rime.  *'IIe  had  wonderful  dramatic  resources," 
says  Debs,  **and  his  pathetic  passages  moved  his  audi- 
ence to  tears. ' '  At  the  close  of  the  entertainment  Field, 
who  was  the  guest  of  Debs  and  his  family  during  his 
stay  in  Terre  Haute,  was  invited  to  a  friend's  house, 
*'and  here  occurred  an  incident  that  revealed  his  pas- 
sionate love  for  children  of  whom  a  number  were  in 
attendance,"  says  Debs. 

''After  a  time  the  little  folks  withdrew  to  another 
room  to  seek  their  own  enjoyment.  Not  long  afterwards, 
Field  also  disappeared.  The  reason  soon  became  ap- 
parent. Peals  of  laughter  issued  from  the  adjoining 
room.  Hilarity  was  evidently  at  high  tide  in  the  child- 
world.  And  no  wonder.  Field  had  gotten  among  them 
and  was  both  ring-master  and  clown  of  the  show,  and 
when  the  door  was  opened  he  was  found  minus  his  dress 
coat,  down  on  the  floor  on  all  fours,  and  cutting  such 
antics  as  made  the  little  folks  scream  with  delight." 

Among  the  messages  that  Debs  received  from  his 
many  friends  while  he  was  imprisoned  at  Woodstock 
in  1895  came  one  from  Eugene  Field.  Here  is  the 
note: 

"Now  that  you  are  settled  in  your  summer  quarters 
I  shall  soon  be  out  to  see  you."  But  the  visit  was  never 
made,  for  Field  went  to  bed  soon  after  and  never  got  up. 

It  would  require  the  writing  of  another  book  to  at- 
tempt to  tell  of  the  number  of  libertarians  and  world 
lovers  about  whom  Debs  has  written  and  paid  tribute 
in  his  speeches,  and  to  record  the  thousands  of  testi- 
monials that  have  been  written  and  spoken  in  appre- 
ciation of  his  own  life  and  works.     His  private  mail 


220    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS  ' 

in  Terre  Haute  is  normally  a  very  large  one,  and  since 
his  arrest,  trial  and  imprisonment  under  the  Espionage 
Act  he  has  been  literally  swamped  with  letters  praising 
his  courage  and  devotion  to  his  principles  from  people 
in  all  walks  of  life.  At  his  home,  Theodore  Debs,  with 
the  aid  of  several  secretaries,  has  been  kept  busy  day 
and  night  answering  these  thousands  of  letters  in  which 
the  authors  have  pledged  their  money,  and  even  their 
lives  to  the  cause  for  which  Debs  stands. 

The  world  has  a  habit  of  estimating  a  public  man, 
not  upon  his  record  as  a  diplomatist,  or  in  his  dealings 
with  state  affairs,  no  matter  how  brilliantly  and  success- 
fully he  might  have  executed  the  arduous  tasks  set  be- 
fore him,  but  it  searches  his  career  as  a  public  servant 
to  learn  what  he  has  done  and  contributed  to  the  ele- 
mental happiness  and  well-being  of  those  who  came  un- 
der his  immediate  political  charge.  If  that  record 
is  bright  and  yields  itself  to  the  nobler  instincts  of  the 
people  that  man  lives  in  history  and  those  who  come 
after  him  sing  praises  to  his  name  even  though  he  may 
never  have  written  a  treaty  of  peace  for  the  nations  of 
the  world.  The  men  who  live  in  history,  whose  names 
shine  with  all  the  luster  of  a  star,  are  those  who  culti- 
vated the  arts  of  kindness  and  justice  and  who  have 
cared  for,  rather  than  crushed,  those  persons  whom  all 
the  world  knows  were  truly  concerned  with  the  happi- 
ness of  their  f  ellowmen.  Speeches  and  phrases  are  things 
that  die  when  the  word  is  spoken,  but  acts,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  are  affairs  never  to  be  erased  as  long  as  there 
are  people  to  compile  the  records  of  human  history. 
More  has  been  written  and  spoken  in  America  for  lib- 
erty and  democracy  in  the  past  two  years  than  in  any 
other  country  on  earth,  yet,  it  is  a  fact,  tragic  to  relate, 
that  much  has  been  done  in  America  in  the  same  period 
to  crush  liberty  and  stamp  out  democracy  in  this  Re- 
public. Nothing  more  than  a  survey  of  the  list  of 
libertarians  and  true  democrats  punished  by  imprison- 


LIBERTARIAN  AND  LOVER  221 

ment  under  tlie  Espionage  Law  is  necessary  to  convince 
a  fair-minded  person  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 

Debs,  as  we  know,  was  one  of  these  libertarians  so 
punished — Debs  of  whom  Frederic  Auguste  Bartholdi, 
the  world-famous  sculptor  who  designed  the  Statue  of 
Liberty  that  stands  in  New  York  harbor,  said: 

"He  is  endowed  with  the  most  precious  faculty  to 
which  one  can  aspire — the  gift  of  language ;  and  he  uses 
it  for  the  proclamation  of  the  most  beautiful  thoughts. 
His  beautiful  language  is  that  of  an  Apostle.'' 

"When  Debs  had  made  his  speech  before  the  jury  in 
his  trial  at  Cleveland,  Edmund  Vance  Cook,  the  Cleve- 
land poet,  was  moved  to  write  a  poem  to  the  towering 
figure  in  that  court  room.  He  called  it  * '  Eugene. ' '  The 
second  verse  reads: 

*'We  may  bind  and  make  you  mute, 
We  may  stripe  you  in  the  suit 
Of  the  meanest  felon.     Aye, 
We  may  scourge  and  crucify, 
But  your  soul,  sublime,  serene, — 
Who  can  crucify  Eugene?" 

More  than  a  year  ago,  when  I  was  Sunday  editor  of 
a  New  York  daily  paper,  I  wrote  to  Debs  and  asked  him 
if  he  would  write  something  for  us  about  the  Russian 
Revolution.  He  promptly  complied  with  my  request. 
I  shall  quote  a  few  paragraphs  from  his  article : — 

"The  Russian  Revolution  is  without  a  precedent  or 
a  parallel  in  history.  Monumental  in  its  glory,  it  stands 
alone.  Behold  its  sublime  majesty,  catch  its  holy  spirit 
and  join  in  its  thrilling,  inspiring  appeal  to  Ihe  op- 
pressed of  every  land  to  rise  in  their  might,  shake  off 
their  fetters  and  proclaim  their  freedom  to  the  world! 
Russia,  domain  of  darkness  impenetrable,  transformed 
in  a  flash  into  a  land  of  living  light !  Russia,  the  goddess 
of  freedom  incarnate,  issuing  her  defiant  challenge  ta 
the  despotisms  of  the  world! 

"The  heart  of  Russia  in  this  hour  of  her  glorious 


222    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

resurrection  is  the  heart  of  humanity;  the  soul  of  her 
triumphant  revolution  is  the  soul  of  a  new-bom  world. 
Verily,  the  last  are  now  first,  and  the  world's  most 
pitilessly  plundered  and  shamelessly  exiled  have  become 
the  world's  revolutionary  redeemers  and  supreme  libera- 
tors. .  .  . 

*'The  Bolsheviki  demanded  nothing  for  themselves 
they  did  not  demand  in  the  same  resolute  spirit  for  the 
proletariat  of  all  the  world,  and  if  history  records  the 
failure  of  their  cause  it  will  be  to  the  eternal  shame  of 
those  for  whom  these  heroes  offered  up  their  lives  and 
who  suffered  them  to  perish  for  the  lack  of  sympathy 
and  support.  .  .  . 

*'A11  the  forces  of  the  world's  reaction,  all  its  dynas- 
ties and  despotisms,  all  its  kingdoms  and  principalities, 
all  its  monarchies  and  imperialism,  all  its  ruling  and 
exploiting  classes,  and  their  politicians,  priests,  pro- 
fessors and  parisites  of  every  breed — all  these  are  pitted 
openly  or  covertly  against  the  Russian  Revolution  and 
conspiring  together  for  the  overthrow  of  the  victorious 
Russian  proletariat  and  the  destruction  of  the  new-bom 
democracy.  But,  whatever  may  be  the  fate  of  the  revo- 
lution, its  flaming  soul  is  immortal  and  will  flood  the 
world  with  light  and  liberty  and  love." 

Debs  has  written  and  spoken  much  about  children 
whom  he  loves.  Once  he  wrote:  **What  sweet  emo- 
tions the  recollections  of  childhood  inspire,  and  how 
priceless  its  treasured  memories  in  our  advancing  and 
declining  years!  Laughing  eyes  and  curly  hair,  little 
brown  hands  and  bare  feet,  innocent  and  care-free, 
trusting  and  loving,  tender  and  pure,  what  an  elevating 
and  satisfying  influence  these  little  gods  have  upon 
our  maturer  years. 

'  *  Childhood !  What  a  holy  theme !  Flowers  they  are, 
with  souls  in  them,  and  if  on  this  earth  man  has  a 
sacred  charge,  a  holy  obligation,  it  is  to  these  tender  buds 
and  blossoms  of  humanity." 


LIBERTAEIAN  AND  LOVER  223 

A  friend  of  Debs,  a  few  years  ago,  sent  him  a  card 
with  some  verses  of  his  own  composition  announcing 
the  birth  of  a  baby  girl.  In  a  little  while  the  mail 
brought  a  letter  from  the  simple  man : 

''The  glad  tidings  of  the  new  life  and  the  new  light 
in  your  home  came  when  I  was  far  away  or  this  ac- 
knowledgment would  have  been  sooner  made.  "With  all 
my  heart  I  send  love  and  congratulations  to  the  beauti- 
ful and  transfigured  mother,  the  joyous  and  exultant 
father,  and  the  sweet  and  tender  babe. 

**It  is  all  beautiful  to  me  and  I  can  see  it  all  and 
feel  the  thrill  of  it  all  as  if  I  were  in  the  very  heart  of 
your  beloved  family.  My  blessings  upon  the  mother  and 
the  babe,  and  upon  all  of  your  godly  household. 

*'The  riches  of  the  world  are  now  yours  in  all  their 
abundance  and  all  your  comrades  will  unite  in  the 
celebration  of  your  joy. 

''Allow  me,  beloved  comrade,  to  join  in  the  beautiful, 
characteristic  father  greeting  you  have  extended  to  the 
babe: 

**  *With  outstretched  arms  and  open  heart  I  welcome 
you  into  this  world  of  war  with  my  love  of  peace.'  '* 


CHAPTER   X 
HIS  IMPRESS  ON  THE  FUTURE 

OF  all  the  human  sciences,  character  study  and  ap- 
praisal is  perhaps  the  most  illusive  and  deceptive. 
We  cannot  know  exactly  the  amount  of  good  nor  the 
extent  of  evil  that  has  been  accomplished  and  perpe- 
trated by  a  single  individual.  Men  do  place  some  sort 
of  estimate,  however  worthy  or  accurate  it  may  be,  upon 
the  acts  of  their  fellowmen  for  good  or  bad  report. 
Historians  follow  in  their  train  years,  sometimes  ages, 
later  and  assume  to  render  the  final  verdict  based,  not 
upon  their  own  knowledge  of  events,  but  upon  the  ac- 
cumulative evidence  attending  to  and  surrounding  the 
individual  and  the  time  in  which  he  lived.  This  report, 
written  on  parchment  and  bound  in  sheep's  skin,  is 
passed  down  among  men  waiting  in  the  corridors  of  the 
years,  and  they  scan  it  eagerly  for  the  word  of  praise 
or  blame,  according  to  their  instincts,  their  feelings  and 
their  emotions,  sometimes  their  intellects ;  they,  in  turn, 
accept  or  discard  the  historian's  word,  according  to 
which  side  their  interests,  material  or  otherwise,  lie. 
After  all,  people  believe  those  things  about  people  that 
they  want  to  believe,  and  no  amount  of  argument,  how- 
ever convincing,  changes  them  until  they  themselves 
want  to  change.  That  change,  if  it  does  come,  occurs 
of  its  own  volition  through  circumstances  over  which 
the  person  has  little,  if  any,  control  and  at  the  time 
when  the  moral,  spiritual  or  intellectual  interests  have 
become  allied  with  or  against  the  principles  embodied  in 
the  person  with  whom  the  historian  deals.  There  is, 
however,  a  cosmic  intelligence  and  understanding  and 

224 


HIS  BCPRESS  ON  THE  FUTURE  225 

this  does  in  time  defeat  whatever  unjust  prejudice  or 
fulsome  praise  may  have  existed.  In  the  light  of  logic 
and  the  sense  of  sciene,  water  comes  to  its  own  level,  and 
a  diamond  will  endure  long  after  the  jewelers  who  ap- 
praised its  value  are  dead. 

The  assayist  tests  the  worth  of  his  precious  metal  by 
applying  acid  to  its  surface,  while  society  employs  the 
use  of  punishment  and  persecution  upon  its  choicest 
spirits;  unlike  the  assayist,  society  is  not  content  with 
mere  surface  application  of  its  venom  and  vitriol,  but 
attempts  to  torture  the  heart  and  twist  the  soul  of  the 
man  under  its  microscope.  Failing  in  this,  it  some- 
times kills  him  outright  as  a  warning  to  others  who  may 
have  his  social  and  spiritual  bent.  Nothing  could  be> 
more  cruel  than  the  composite  social  mind  which  sub- 
jects its  component  parts  to  the  most  excruciating  pains. 
Yet,  paradoxically,  the  world-mind  progresses  and  mani- 
fests a  commonhood  of  tenderness  and  kindness  and 
reciprocity.  If  the  first  premise  were  not  true  we  should 
not  have  that  pantheon  wherein  sit  the  shades  of  the 
gods  who  have  illuminated  all  the  pages  of  history  hy 
their  glorious  deeds  and  sacrifices  for  the  well-being  of 
their  fellowmen,  and  who  have  pushed  forward  the  hand 
of  time  through  travail  to  triumph.  If  the  second  con- 
elusioH  is  false  then  why  come  these  admiring  audi- 
ences, these  teeming  thousands  to  bow  before  their  idols, 
to  cherish  their  memories  and  to  celebrate  them  in  song 
and  story?  Truly,  truly,  the  world  is  a  fickle  lover! 
It  first  condemns  the  man  it  later  condones.  Sometimes 
it  kisses  the  hand  that  strikes  it  to  earth.  But  oftener 
it  reveres  the  memory  of  the  man  it  has  crushed.  Which 
but  proves  the  transparency  of  the  human  mind  and 
the  winding  ways  through  which  it  must  pass  before 
it  may  arrive  at  any  settled  estate  of  estimate  and  bal- 
ance. 

It  is  not  given  to  all  men'  of  strong  mind  and  great 
heart  to  garner  some  of  the  fruits  from  the  seeds  they 


226    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

have  sown.  Many  of  the  martyrs  of  history  have  come 
to  ignominious  ends  without  ever  having  known  that 
they  had  caused  one  quickened  heart-heat,  or  had  started 
a  ripple  in  the  social  stream.  Others  have  been  more 
fortunate.  They  have  lived  to  see  the  changing  tides  and 
to  witness  the  shifting  scenes,  and  they  have  had  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  in  these  processes  of  inex- 
orable evolution  they  have  played  their  part. 

Eugene  Victor  Debs,  now  in  the  autumn  of  his  life, 
a  prisoner  of  the  United  States  government,  belongs 
to  this  latter  group.  No  man,  living  or  dead,  has  more 
faithfully  consecrated  his  life  to  the  cause  of  social 
justice  and  fair  dealing,  man  to  man,  than  Debs.  Like- 
wise, he  has  been  severely  punished  for  it.  But  he  has 
fought  the  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith  of  his  fathers 
whose  names  are  all  in  history,  and  who  are  revered 
even  by  the  children  of  the  races.  Perhaps  men  will 
always  differ  concerning  the  wisdom  of  the  special 
political  and  economic  theories  through  which  Debs 
chose  to  exert  his  influence;  but  no  matter,  for  in  the 
just  verdict  of  mankind  the  world  will  agree  that  Debs 
was  honest,  kind,  sincere,  loyal,  devoted,  true,  lovable 
and  loving,  always  doing  what  he  could  in  rain  oi* 
shine,  in  prison  or  at  home,  to  make  this  world  a  better 
and  a  brighter  place  for  the  people  who  inhabit  it,  and 
for  those  who  will  come  afterward.  For  these  things, 
these  traits — which  are  akin  to  Christhood — ^will  he  be 
honored  in  the  ages  to  come. 

The  principle  for  which  Debs  stands — Socialism — is 
already  accepted,  in  one  form  or  another,  in  various 
countries.  This  change  in  economic  and  political  forms 
of  government  has  been  hastened  by  the  World  War 
which  has  just  closed,  and  which  Debs  opposed.  Debs 
believed  that  these  same  changes  could  have  been  brought 
about  through  an  enlightened  intelligence  and  an  ex- 
erted will  of  the  people  who  have  actually  brought  them 
about — ^the  world's  workers.     He  has  been  a  life-long 


HIS  IMPRESS  ON  THE  FUTURE     227 

antagonist  of  the  principle  of  violence  and  force  no 
matter  by  whom  it  is  practised.  He  would  not  injure 
or  kill  his  biggest  enemy  if  by  so  doing  ho  would  advance 
the  cause  nearest  his  heart,  and  therefor  he  would  not 
be  cowardly  enough  to  encourage  another  so  to  do. 
He  believed  that  the  people  could  do  what  they  were 
of  a  will  to  do ;  that  they  could  change  the  form  of  gov- 
ernments under  which  they  lived  and  arrange  industries 
so  that  they  would  serve  the  people  instead  of  exploit 
them,  by  acting  in  concert  politically,  economically  and 
industrially.  He  did  not  believe  it  was  necessary  for  the 
workers  of  one  country  to  hate  those  of  another  and  to 
meet  on  the  battlefields  to  kill  one  another  in  order  to 
have  happier  lives  at  home. 

There  is  an  ever-increasing  number  of  people  who  be- 
lieve that  Socialism  is  the  next  step;  who  believe  that 
it  is  the  only  possible  form  of  human  proeedure  by 
which  people  can  live  happily  together  and  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  labor.  Debs,  believing  this  with  all  his 
heart  and  mind,  has  struggled  unceasingly  to  bring 
this  about.  By  his  courage  and  his  loving,  tender  heart 
he  has  done  more  than  any  other  man  in  America  to 
set  forth  the  program  which  he  and  his  followers  believe 
will  make  for  happiness  and  justice  in  the  present  and 
the  future. 

He  has  fought  his  enemies  with  love,  pity  and  com- 
passion. They  have  fought  him  with  blood  and  bludgeon, 
persecution  and  prison.  He  has  attacked  their  citadels 
with  his  eloquence  and  persuasion.  They  have  returned 
the  attack  with  injunctions  and  indictments.  The  fu- 
ture must  decide  this  political  and  industrial  question. 
As  for  Debs,  as  a  man,  as  a  leader  of  men,  as  a  lover  of 
liberty,  as  a  determined  spirit,  and  as  a  gentle  soul,  he 
has  already  left  his  impress  on  the  future.  There  awaits 
him  a  page  in  history,  and  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame, 
not  beside  those  who  have  purchased  their  way  into 
posterity  with  blood  or  gold,  but  beside  those  who  have 


228    DEBS— AUTHORIZED  LIFE  AND  LETTERS 

been  elevated  to  immortality  through  the  common  esti- 
mate of  the  common  people. 

I  have  had  no  illusions  about  this  book  as  being  a  final 
word  on  Debs*s  career.  It  could  not  possibly  be  so,  for 
the  subject  of  my  study  still  lives  and  has  other  work  to 
do.  All  that  has  been  attempted  here  was  to  give  an 
authoritative  record  of  his  life's  work,  to  set  down  as 
accurately  as  it  was  in  my  power  to  do,  those  incidents 
in  his  life  which,  accumulated,  make  him  the  splendid 
figure  that  he  is  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  love  him 
almost  to  the  point  of  idolatry — and  thousands  of  such 
persons  heartily  disbelieve  in  Socialism. 

As  I  complete  this  task,  dear  'Gene,  I  give  you  my 
hand  and  my  heart,  for  they  are  all  that  I  have  to  give, 
without  stint  or  diminution,  in  appreciation  of  your 
many  kindnesses  to  me,  of  the  too  generous  words  that 
you  have  put  on  paper  from  your  prison  cell,  and  for 
the  noble  things  you  have  said  and  done  for  humanity. 
For  these  things  I  am  your  debtor  for  the  rest  of  my 
days — and  now  I  lay  this  paltry  tribute  at  your  feet. 
The  world  may  scoff  at  it,  but  in  your  generous  heart 
you  will  accept  it  for  what  it  is  intended  to  be. 


APPENDIX 

EUGENE  V.  DEBS  was  sentenced  to  ten  years  in 
prison  under  the  Espionage  Act  for  making  a 
speech  at  Canton,  Ohio,  June  16,  1918,  before  the  State 
Convention  of  the  Socialist  Party  of  Ohio.  The  follow- 
ing are  extracts  from  that  speech  as  reported  by  a  gov- 
ernment stenographer  and  included  in  the  indictment. 
The  government  stenographer  admitted  in  court  that 
he  was  inexperienced  and  was  unable  to  follow  Debs's 
speech  accurately  or  verbatim.  However  that  may  be. 
Debs  admitted  that  what  the  government  stenographer 
reported  him  as  saying  was  substantially  correct,  but 
actually  and  technically  at  variance  with  the  text  of  his 
speech.     The  extracts  follow: 

*'I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  from  yonder 
(pointing  to  workhouse)  where  three  of  our  most  loyal 
comrades  are  paying  the  penalty  for  their  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  the  working  class.  They  have  come  to 
realize,  as  many  of  us  have,  that  it  is  extremely  danger- 
ous to  exercise  the  constitutional  right  of  free  speech 
in  a  country  fighting  to  make  democracy  safe  for  the 
world.  I  realize  in  speaking  to  you  this  afternoon  that 
there  are  certain  limitations  placed  upon  the  right  of 
free  speech.  I  must  be  extremely  careful,  prudent,  as 
to  what  I  say,  and  even  more  careful  and  prudent  as  to 
how  I  say  it.  I  may  not  be  able  to  say  all  I  think,  but 
I  am  not  going  to  say  anything  I  do  not  think.  And  I 
would  rather  a  thousand  times  be  a  free  soul  in  jail  than 
a  sycophant  or  coward  on  the  streets.  They  may  put 
those  boys  in  jail,  and  some  of  the  rest  of  us  in  jail, 
but  they  cannot  put  the  Socialist  movement  in  jail. 
Those  prison  bars  separate  their  bodies  from  ours,  but 

229 


230  APPENDIX 

their  souls  are  here  this  afternoon.  They  are  simply- 
paying  the  penalty  that  all  men  have  paid  in  all  of  the 
ages  of  history  for  standing  erect  and  seeking  to  pave 
the  way  for  better  conditions  for  mankind. 

''If  it  had  not  been  for  the  men  and  women  who,  in 
the  past,  have  had  the  moral  courage  to  go  to  jail,  we 
would  still  be  in  the  jungles.  .  .  . 

''Why  should  a  Socialist  be  discouraged  on  the  eve 
of  the  greatest  triumph  of  all  history  of  the  Socialist 
movement?  It  is  true  that  these  are  anxious,  trying 
days  for  us  all,  testing  those  who  are  upholding  the 
banner  of  the  working  class  in  the  greatest  struggle  the 
world  has  ever  known  against  the  exploiters  of  the 
world;  a  time  in  which  the  weak,  the  cowardly,  will 
falter  and  fail  and  desert.  They  lack  the  fiber  to  endure 
the  revolutionary  test.  They  fall  away.  They  disappear 
as  if  they  had  never  been. 

' '  On  the  other  hand,  they  who  are  animated  with  the 
unconquerable  spirit  of  the  social  revolution,  they  who 
have  the  moral  courage  to  stand  erect,  to  assert  their 
convictions,  to  stand  by  them,  to  go  to  jail  or  to  hell 
for  them — ^they  are  writing  their  names  in  this  crucial 
hour,  they  are  writing  their  names  in  fadeless  letters 
in  the  history  of  mankind.  Those  boys  over  yonder, 
those  comrades  of  ours — and  how  I  love  them — aye, 
they  are  our  younger  brothers,  their  names  are  seared 
in  our  souls. 

"I  am  proud  of  them.  They  are  there  for  us  and 
we  are  here  for  them.  Their  lips,  though  temporarily 
mute,  are  more  eloquent  than  ever  before,  and  theii* 
voices,  though  silent,  are  heard  around  the  world. 

"Are  we  opposed  to  Prussian  militarism?  Why,  we 
have  been  fighting  it  since  the  day  the  Socialist  move- 
ment was  born  and  we  are  going  to  continue  to  fight 
it  to-day  and  until  it  is  wiped  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Between  us  there  is  no  truce,  no  comprom- 
ise. .  .  . 


APPENDIX  231 

*'Do  not  imagine  for  one  moment  that  all  the  pluto- 
crats and  Junkers  are  all  in  Germany;  we  have  them 
here  in  our  own  country,  and  these  want  to  keep  our 
eyes  focused  upon  the  Junkers  in  Germany  so  we  won't 
see  those  within  our  own  border.  I  have  no  earthly  use 
for  the  Junkers  of  Germany  and  not  one  particle  more 
use  for  the  Junkers  in  the  United  States. 

' '  They  tell  us  we  live  in  a  great  republic.  Our  insti- 
tutions are  democratic.  We  are  a  free  people.  This  is 
too  much,  even  as  a  joke.  It  is  not  a  subject  for  levity ; 
it  is  an  exceedingly  serious  matter.  .  .  . 

**  Patriotism  is  the  last  refuge  of  scoundrels.  It  has 
been  the  tyrant  who  wrapped  himself  in  a  cloak  of  re- 
ligion or  patriotism,  or  both.  They  would  have  you  be- 
lieve that  the  Socialist  Party  consists  in  the  main  of 
disloyalists  and  traitors.  It  is  true,  in  a  certain  sense. 
"We  are  disloyalists  and  traitors  to  the  real  traitors  of 
this  nation.  .  .  . 

*'Why,  the  other  day  they  sent  a  woman  to  Wichita 
Penitentiary  for  ten  years.  Just  think  of  sentencing  a 
woman  to  the  penitentiary  for  talking.  The  United 
States  under  the  rule  of  the  plutocrats  is  the  only  coun- 
try which  would  send  a  woman  to  the  penitentiary  for 
ten  years  for  exercising  the  right  to  free  speech.  If 
this  be  treason,  let  them  make  the  most  of  it.  Let  me 
review  another  bit  of  history.  I  have  known  this  woman 
for  ten  years.  Personally  I  know  her  as  if  she  were 
my  own  younger  sister.  She  is  a  woman  of  absolute 
integrity.  She  is  a  woman  of  courage.  She  is  a  woman 
of  unimpeachable  loyalty  to  the  Socialist  movement. 
She  went  out  into  Dakota  and  made  her  speech,  followed 
by  plain-clothes  men  in  the  service  of  the  government, 
intent  upon  encompassing  her  arrest,  prosecuted  and 
convicted.  She  made  a  certain  speech  and  that  speech 
was  deliberately  misrepresented  for  the  purpose  of  se- 
curing her  conviction.  The  only  testimony  was  that 
of  a  hired  witness.  .  .  .  And  thirty  farmers  who  went 


232  APPENDIX 

to  Bismark  to  testify  in  her  favor,  the  judge  refused  to 
allow  to  testify.  This  would  seem  incredible  to  me  if 
I  had  not  had  some  experience  of  my  own  with  a  Federal 
court.  Who  appoints  the  Federal  courts  ?  The  people  ? 
Every  solitary  one  of  them  holds  his  position  through 
influence  and  power  of  corporation  capital.  And  when 
they  go  to  the  bench,  they  go  there  not  to  serve  the  peo- 
ple, but  to  serve  the  interests  who  sent  them.  The 
other  day,  by  a  vote  of  five  to  four,  they  declared  the 
Child  Labor  Law  unconstitutional;  a  law  secured  after 
twenty  years  of  education  and  agitation  by  all  kinds  of 
people,  and  yet  by  a  majority  of  one,  the  Supreme 
Court,  a  body  of  corporation  lawyers,  with  just  one 
solitary  exception,  wiped  it  from  the  statute  books,  so 
that  we  may  still  continue  to  grind  the  blood  of  little 
children  into  profit  for  the  Junkers  of  Wall  Street,  and 
this  in  a  country  that  is  now  fighting  to  make  democracy 
safe  for  the  world.  These  are  not  palatable  truths  to 
them.  And  they  do  not  want  you  to  hear  them  and 
that  is  why  they  brand  us  traitors  and  disloyalists.  If 
we  were  not  traitors  to  the  people,  we  would  be  eminently 
respectable  citizens  and  ride  in  limousines.  It  is  pre- 
cisely because  we  are  disloyal  to  the  traitors  that  we  are 
not  disloyal  to  the  people  of  this  country.  .  .  . 

*'IIow  short-sighted  the  ruling  class  is.  The  ex- 
ploiter cannot  see  beyond  the  end  of  his  nose.  He  has 
just  been  cunning  enough  to  know  what  graft  is  and 
where  it  is  but  he  has  no  vision.  You  know  this  is  a 
great  throbbing  world  that  speaks  out  in  all  directions. 
Look  at  Rockefeller.  Every  move  he  makes  hastens  the 
coming  of  his  doom.  Every  time  the  capitalist  class 
tries  to  hinder  the  cause  of  Socialism  they  hurt  them- 
selves. Every  time  they  strangle  a  Socialist  newspaper 
they  add  a  thousand  voices  to  those  which  are  aiding 
Socialism.  The  Socialist  has  a  great  idea.  An  expand- 
ing philosophy.  It  is  spreading  over  the  face  of  the 
earth.    It  is  as  useless  to  resist  it  as  it  is  to  resist  the 


APPENDIX  233 

rising  sunrise.  Can  you  see  it?  If  you  cannot  you  are 
lacking  in  vision,  in  understanding.  What  a  privilege 
it  is  to  serve  it.  I  have  regretted  a  thousand  times  I 
can  do  so  little  for  the  movement  that  has  done  so  much 
for  me.  The  little  that  I  am,  the  little  that  I  am  hoping 
to  be,  is  due  wholly  to  the  Socialist  movement.  It  gave 
me  my  ideas  and  my  ideals,  and  I  would  not  exchange 
one  of  them  for  all  the  Rockefeller  blood-stained  dollars. 
It  taught  me  how  to  serve;  a  lesson  to  me  of  priceless 
value.  It  taught  the  ecstasy  of  the  handclasp  of  the 
comrade.  It  made  it  possible  for  me  to  get  in  touch  with 
you,  to  multiply  myself  over  and  over  again;  to  open 
the  avenue  to  spread  out  the  glorious  vistas;  to  know 
that  I  am  kin  with  all  that  throbs  that  become  class 
conscious.  Every  man  who  toils,  every  one  of  them,  is 
my  comrade.  .  .  . 

''Here  I  hear  your  heart  beats  responsive  to  the 
Bolsheviki  of  Russia.  (Applause.)  Yes,  those  heroic 
men  and  women,  those  unconquerable  comrades,  who 
have  by  their  sacrifice  added  fresh  luster  to  the  inter- 
national movement.  Those  Russian  comrades  who  have 
made  greater  sacrifices,  who  have  suffered  more,  who 
have  shed  more  heroic  blood  than  any  like  number  of 
men  and  women  anywhere  else  on  earth.  They  have  led 
the  first  real  convention  of  any  democracy  that  ever 
drew  breath.  The  first  act  of  that  memorable  revolution 
was  to  proclaim  a  state  of  peace  with  an  appeal  not  to 
the  kings,  not  to  the  rulers,  but  an  appeal  to  the  people 
of  all  nations.  They  are  the  very  breath  of  democracy ; 
the  quintessence  of  freedom.  .  .  . 

''Wars  have  been  waged  for  conquests,  for  plunder, 
and  since  the  feudal  ages  along  the  Rhine,  the  feudal 
lords  have  made  war  upon  each  other.  They  wanted  to 
enlarge  their  domains,  to  increase  their  power  and  their 
wealth  and  so  they  declared  war  upon  each  other.  But 
they  did  not  go  to  war  any  more  than  the  Wall  Street 
Junkers  go  to  war.     Their  predecessors  declared  the 


234  APPENDIX 

wars,  but  their  miserable  serfs  fought  the  wars.  The 
serfs  believed  that  it  was  their  patriotic  duty  to  fall  upon 
one  another,  to  wage  war  upon  one  another.  And  that 
is  war  in  a  nutshell.  The  master  class  has  always  brought 
a  war  and  the  subject  class  has  fought  the  battle.  The 
master  class  has  had  all  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose, 
and  the  subject  class  has  had  all  to  lose  and  nothing  to 
gain.  They  have  always  taught  you  that  it  is  your  pa- 
triotic duty  to  go  to  war  and  slaughter  yourselves  at 
their  command.  You  have  never  had  a  voice  in  the 
war.  The  working  class  who  make  the  sacrifices,  who 
shed  the  blood,  have  never  yet  had  a  voice  in  declaring 
war.  The  ruling  class  has  always  made  the  war  and 
made  the  peace. 

*'  'Yours  not  to  question  why, 
Yours  but  to  do  and  die.' 

''Another  bit  of  history  that  I  want  to  review  is  that 
of  Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  another  inspiring  comrade.  She 
had  her  millions  of  dollars.  Her  devotion  to  the  cause 
is  without  all  consideration  of  a  financal  or  economic 
view.  She  went  out  to  render  service  to  the  cause  and 
they  sent  her  to  the  penitentiary  for  ten  years.  What 
has  she  said  ?  Nothing  more  than  I  have  said  here  this 
afternoon.  I  want  to  say  that  if  Rose  Pastor  Stokes  is 
guilty,  so  am  I.  If  she  should  be  sent  to  the  peniten- 
tiary for  ten  years,  so  ought  I.  "What  did  she  say  ?  She 
said  that  a  government  could  not  serve  both  the  profi- 
teers and  the  employees  of  the  profiteers.  Roosevelt 
has  said  a  thousand  times  more  in  his  paper,  the  Kansas 
City  Star.  He  would  do  everything  possible  to  discredit 
Wilson 's  Administration  in  order  to  give  his  party  cred- 
it. The  Republican  and  Democratic  parties  are  all  pa- 
triots this  Fall  and  they  are  going  to  combine  to  prevent 
the  election  of  any  disloyal  Socialists.  Do  you  know  of 
any  difference  between  them?  One  is  in,  the  other  is 
out.     That  is  all  the  difference. 


APPENDIX  235> 

**Rose  Pastor  Stokes  never  said  a  word  she  did  not 
have  a  right  to  utter,  but  her  message  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  people.  That  must  be  suppressed.  That  voice 
must  be  silenced.  Her  trial  in  a  capitalist  court  was  very- 
farcical.  What  chance  had  she  in  a  corporation  court 
with  a  put-up  jury  and  a  corporation  tool  on  the 
bench?  ... 

''The  heart  of  the  international  Socialist  never  beats 
a  retreat.  They  are  pressing  forward  here,  there,  every- 
where, in  all  the  zones  that  girdle  this  globe.  These 
workers,  these  class-conscious  workers,  these  children  of 
honest  toil  are  wiping  out  the  boundary  lines  everywhere. 
They  are  all  proclaiming  the  glad  tidings  of  the  coming 
emancipation.  Everywhere  they  are  having  their  hearts 
attuned  to  the  sacred  cause;  everywhere  they  are  mov- 
ing toward  democracy,  moving  toward  the  sunrise,  their 
faces  aglow  with  the  light  of  the  coming  day.  These 
are  the  men  who  must  guide  us  in  the  greatest  crisis  the 
world  has  ever  known.  They  are  making  history.  They 
are  bound  upon  the  emancipating  of  the  human  race. 

'  *  They  have  been  sufficient  to  themselves,  pressing  for- 
ward to  the  heights.  Do  you  wish  to  hasten  the  coming 
day?  Join  the  Socialist  Party.  Do  not  wait  for  the 
morrow.  Come  now.  Enroll  your  name.  Take  your 
place  where  you  belong.  You  cannot  do  your  duty  by 
proxy.  You  have  got  to  do  it  yourself.  You  will  have 
no  occasion  to  blush.  You  will  know  what  it  is  to  be  a 
man  or  a  woman.  You  will  lose  nothing.  You  will  gain 
everything.  You  are  very  apt  to  find  something.  You 
need  to  know  that  you  are  fit  fo;*  something  better  than 
slavery  and  cannon  fodder.  ... 

''There  is  a  great  deal  of  hope  for  our  comrades, 
Wagenknecht,  Ruthenl^erg  and  Baker.  Anybody  can  be 
nobody,  but  it  takes  a  man  to  be  somebody.  Turn  your 
back  upon  that  corrupt  Republican  Party  and  that  still 
more  corrupt  Democratic  Party,  the  gold-dust  twins  of 
the  ruling  class.     Get  into  a  minority  party  that  fights 


236  APPENDIX 

for  a  cause.  Make  that  change.  It  will  be  the  most  im- 
portant change  you  ever  made  in  your  life.  You  will 
thank  me  for  having  made  the  suggestion.  It  was  a  day 
of  days  for  me.    I  passed  from  darkness  to  light.  .  .  . 

"Among  other  things  they  tell  you  to  cultivate  war 
gardens.  Government  reports  now  show  that  52  per  cent 
of  the  arable,  tillable  soil  is  held  out  of  use  by  the 
profiteers.  They  do  not  allow  others  to  cultivate  it. 
They  keep  it  idle,  to  enrich  themselves.  Thus,  it  makes 
their  land  valuable.  It  is  not  the  fault  of  the  people ;  it 
is  the  fault  of  the  landlords.  And  while  we  are  upon 
the  subject,  think  about  the  landlord.  The  landlord  is 
the  great  patriot.  He  is  fighting  to  make  the  world  safe 
for  democracy.  He  it  is  who  profits  at  the  expense  of  the 
people  under  the  pretense  of  being  a  great  patriot.  It  is 
he  whom  you  need  to  wipe  from  power.  It  is  he  who 
diminishes  your  health  and  your  liberty  far  more  than 
the  Prussian  junker  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean.  .  .  . 

**A  change  is  needed,  a  change  of  system  from  despot- 
ism to  democracy,  a  change  from  slavery  to  freedom; 
a  change  from  brutehood  to  brotherhood.  To  accom- 
plish this  you  have  got  to  organize,  and  to  organize  not 
along  the  zig-zag  lines  laid  down  by  Sam  Gompers  who, 
through  all  of  his  career,  has  been  on  the  side  of  the 
capitalist  class.  You  never  hear  the  capitalist  papers 
speak  of  him  except  in  praise.  Gompers  was  always  con- 
servative. .  .  . 

**Few  men  have  the  courage  to  say  a  decent  word  in 
favor  of  the  I.  W.  W.  I  have.  (Here  several  in  the 
crowd  yelled,  *So  have  I.') 

**I  have  a  great  respect  for  the  I.  W.  W.  ...  It  is 
only  necessary  to  label  a  man  *I.  W.  W.'  to  lynch  him. 
Just  think  of  the  state  of  mind  for  which  the  capitalist 
press  is  responsible. 

**When  Wall  Street  yells  war,  you  may  rest  assured 
every  pulpit  in  the  land  will  yell  war.  The  press  and 
the  pulpit  have  in  every  age  and  every  nation  been  on 


APPENDIX  237 

the  side  of  the  exploiting  class  and  the  ruling  class. 
That's  why  the  I.  W.  W.  is  infamous. 

''The  I.  W.  W.  in  its  career  has  never  committed 
as  much  violence  against  the  ruling  class  as  the  ruling 
class  has  committed  against  the  people.  The  trial  at 
Chicago  is  now  on,  and  they  have  not  proven  violence  in 
a  single  solitarj^  case,  and  yet,  one  hundred  and  twelve 
men  have  been  on  trial  for  months  and  months  without 
a  shade  of  evidence.  And  this  is  all  in  its  favor.  And 
for  this  and  many  other  reasons,  the  I.  "W.  W.  is 
fighting  the  fight  of  the  bottom  dog.  For  the  very  rea- 
son that  Gompers  is  glorified  by  Wall  Street,  Bill  Hay- 
wood is  despised  by  Wall  Street.  .  .  . 

"And  now  for  all  of  us  to  do  our  duty.  The  call  is 
ringing  in  your  ears.  Do  not  worry  over  the  charge  of 
treason  to  your  masters,  but  be  concerned  about  the 
treason  that  involves  yourself.  .  .  .  We  Socialists  are 
the  builders  of  the  world  that  is  to  be.  We  are  inviting 
you  this  afternoon.  Join  and  it  will  help  you.  In 
due  course  of  time  we  will  proclaim  the  emancipation  of 
the  brotherhood  of  all  mankind." 

Following  is  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  rendered  March  10th,  1919,  in  the  case  of 
Debs: 

SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

No.  714— October  Term,  1918. 
Eugene  Y.  Debs,  Plaintiff^ 


in  Error, 

VS 
The    United     States    of 
America. 


In  Error  to  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States 
for  the  Northern  District 
of  Ohio. 


(March  10,  1919.) 

Mr.   Justice   Holmes   delivered   the  opinion   of  the 
Court. 


238  APPENDIX 

This  is  an  indictment  under  the  Espionage  Act  of 
June  15, 1917,  c.  30,  p.  3,  as  amended  by  the  Act  of  May 
16,  1918,  c.  75,  p.  1,  40  Stat.— It  has  been  cut  down  to 
two  counts,  originally  the  third  and  fourth.  The  former 
of  these  alleges  that  on  or  about  June  16,  1918,  at  Can- 
ton, Ohio,  the  defendant  caused  and  incited  and  at- 
tempted to  cause  and  incite  insubordination,  disloyalty, 
mutiny  and  refusal  of  duty  in  the  military  and  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States  and  with  intent  so  to  do 
delivered,  to  an  assembly  of  people,  a  public  speech,  set 
forth.  The  fourth  count  alleges  that  he  obstructed 
and  attempted  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  and  enlistment 
service  of  the  United  States  and  to  that  end  and  with 
that  intent  delivered  the  same  speech,  again  set  forth. 
There  was  a  demurrer  to  the  indictment  on  the  ground 
that  the  statute  is  unconstitutional  as  interfering  with 
free  speech,  contrary  to  the  First  Amendment,  and  to  the 
several  counts  as  insufficiently  stating  the  supposed  of- 
fence. This  was  overruled,  subject  to  exception.  There 
were  other  exceptions  to  the  admission  of  evidence  with 
which  we  shall  deal.  The  defendant  was  found  guilty 
and  was  sentenced  to  ten  years'  imprisonment  on  each 
of  the  two  counts,  the  punishment  to  run  concurrently 
on  both. 

The  main  theme  of  the  speech  was  Socialism,  its 
growth,  and  a  prophecy  of  its  ultimate  success.  With, 
that  we  have  nothing  to  do,  but  if  a  part  of  the  manifest 
intent  of  the  more  general  utterances  was  to  encourage 
those  present  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  service  and  if  in 
passages  such  encouragement  was  directly  given,  the 
immunity  of  the  general  theme  may  not  be  enough  to 
protect  the  speech.  The  speaker  began  by  saying  that 
he  had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  workhouse  in 
the  neighborhood  where  three  of  their  most  loyal  com- 
rades were  paying  the  penalty  for  their  devotion  to  the 
working  class — these  being  Wagenknecht,  Baker,  and 
Ruthenberg,  who  had  been  convicted  of  aiding  and  abet' 


[APPENDIX  239 

ting  another  in  failing  to  register  for  the  draft.  RUTH- 
ENBERG  V.  UNITED  STATES,  245  U.  S.  480.  He 
said  that  he  had  to  he  prudent  and  might  not  he  ahle 
to  say  all  that  he  thought,  thus  intimating  to  his  hear- 
ers that  they  might  infer  that  he  meant  more,  but  he  did 
say  that  those  persons  were  paying  the  penalty  for  stand- 
ing erect  and  for  seeking  to  pave  the  way  to  better  con- 
ditions for  all  mankind.  Later  he  added  further  eulogies 
and  said  that  he  was  proud  of  them.  He  then  expressed 
opposition  to  Prussian  militarism  in  a  way  that  natural- 
ly might  have  been  thought  to  be  intended  to  include  the 
mode  of  proceeding  in  the  United  States. 

After  considerable  discourse  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
follow,  he  took  up  the  case  of  Kate  Richards  O'Hare, 
convicted  of  obstructing  the  enlistment  service,  praised 
her  for  her  loyalty  to  Socialism  and  otherwise,  and  said 
that  she  was  convicted  on  false  testimony,  under  a  rul- 
ing that  would  seem  incredible  to  him  if  he  had  not  had 
some  experience  with  a  Federal  Court.  We  mention  this 
passage  simply  for  its  connection  with  evidence  put  in  at 
the  trial.  The  defendant  spoke  of  other  cases,  and  then, 
after  dealing  with  Russia,  said  that  the  master  class  has 
always  declared  the  war  and  the  subject  class  has  always 
fought  the  battles — that  the  subject  class  has  had  noth- 
ing to  gain  and  all  to  lose,  including  their  lives ;  that  the 
working  class,  who  furnish  the  corpses,  have  never  yet 
had  a  voice  in  declaring  war  and  have  never  yet  had  a 
voice  in  declaring  peace.  *You  have  your  lives 'to  lose; 
you  certainly  ought  to  have  the  right  to  declare  war  if 
you  consider  a  war  necessary. '  The  defendant  next  men- 
tioned Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  convicted  of  attempting  to 
cause  insubordination  and  refusal  of  duty  in  the  mili- 
tary forces  of  the  United  States  and  obstructing  the  re- 
cruiting service.  He  said  that  she  went  out  to  render 
her  service  to  the  cause  in  this  day  of  crises,  and  they 
sent  her  to  the  penitentiary  for  ten  years ;  that  she  had 
said  no  more  than  the  speaker  had  said  that  afternoon; 


240  APPENDIX 

that  if  she  was  guilty  so  was  he,  and  that  he  would  not  be 
cowardly  enough  to  plead  his  innocence;  but  that  her 
message  that  opened  the  eyes  of  the  people  must  be 
suppressed,  and  so  after  a  mock  trial  before  a  packed 
jury  and  a  corporation  tool  on  the  bench,  she  was  sent 
to  the  penitentiary  for  ten  years. 

There  followed  personal  experiences  and  illustrations 
of  the  growth  of  Socialism,  a  glorification  of  minorities, 
and  a  prophecy  of  the  success  of  the  international  Social- 
ist crusade,  with  the  interjection  that  *'you  need  to  know 
that  you  are  fit  for  something  better  than  slavery  and 
cannon  fodder. ' '  The  rest  of  the  discourse  had  only  the 
indirect  though  not  necessarily  ineffective  bearing  on  the 
offences  alleged  that  is  to  be  found  in  the  usual  con- 
trasts between  capitalists  and  laboring  men,  sneers  at  the 
advice  to  cultivate  war  gardens,  attribution  to  pluto- 
crats of  the  high  price  of  coal,  etc.,  with  the  implica- 
tion running  through  it  all  that  the  working  men  are  not 
concerned  in  the  war,  and  a  final  exhortation,  ''Don't 
worry  about  the  charge  of  treason  to  your  masters ;  but 
be  concerned  about  the  treason  that  involves  your- 
selves.'' The  defendant  addressed  the  jury  himself,  and 
while  contending  that  his  speech  did  not  warrant  the 
charges  said,  '*I  have  been  accused  of  obstructing  the 
war.  I  admit  it.  Gentlemen,  I  abhor  war.  I  would  op- 
pose the  war  if  I  stood  alone."  The  statement  was  not 
necessary  to  warrant  the  jury  in  finding  that  one  pur- 
pose of  the  speech,  whether  incidental  or  not,  does  not 
matter,  was  to  oppose  not  only  war  in  general  but  this 
war,  and  that  the  opposition  was  so  expressed  that  its 
natural  and  intended  effect  would  be  to  obstruct  re- 
cruiting. If  that  was  intended  and  if,  in  all  the  circum- 
stances, that  would  be  its  probable  effect,  it  would  not  be 
protected  by  reason  of  its  being  part  of  a  general  pro- 
gram and  expressions  of  a  general  and  conscientious  be- 
lief. 

The  chief  defences  upon  which  the  defendant  seemed 


[APPENDIX  241 

willing  to  rely  were  the  denial  that  we  have  dealt  with 
and  that  based  upon  the  First  Amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution, disposed  of  in  SCHENCK  V.  UNITED 
STATES,  ANTE.  His  counsel  questioned  the  sufficiency 
of  the  indictment.  It  is  sufficient  in  form.  FROH- 
WERK  V.  UNITED  STATES,  ANTE.  The  most  im- 
portant question  that  remains  is  raised  by  the  admission 
in  evidence  of  the  record  of  the  conviction  of  Ruthen- 
berg,  Wagenknecht  and  Baker,  Rose  Pastor  Stokes,  and 
Kate  Richards  0  'Hare.  The  defendant  purported  to  un- 
derstand the  grounds  on  which  these  persons  were  im- 
prisoned and  it  was  proper  to  show  what  those  grounds 
were  in  order  to  show  what  he  was  talking  about,  to 
explain  the  true  import  of  his  expression  of  sympathy 
and  to  throw  light  on  the  intent  of  the  address,  so  far  as 
the  present  matter  is  concerned. 

There  was  introduced  also  an  *' Anti-war  Proclama- 
tion and  Program"  adopted  at  St.  Louis  in  April,  1917, 
coupled  with  testimony  that  about  an  hour  before  his 
speech  the  defendant  had  stated  that  he  approved  of 
that  platform  in  spirit  and  in  substance.  The  defendant 
referred  to  it  in  his  address  to  the  jury,  seemingly  with 
satisfaction  and  willingness  that  it  should  be  considered 
in  evidence.  But  his  counsel  objected  and  has  argued 
against  its  admissibility,  at  some  length.  This  document 
contained  the  usual  suggestion  that  capitalism  was  the 
cause  of  the  war  and  that  our  entrance  into  it  '*was  in- 
stigated by  the  predatory  capitalists  in  the  United 
States."  It  alleged  that  the  war  of  the  United  States 
against  Germany  could  not  ^ '  be  justified  even  on  the  plea 
that  it  is  a  war  in  defence  of  American  rights  or  Amer- 
ican 'honor.'  "  It  said:  **We  brand  the  declaration  of 
war  by  our  Government  as  a  crime  against  the  people 
of  the  United  States  and  against  the  nations  of  the 
world.  In  all  modern  history  there  has  been  no  war 
more  unjustifiable  than  the  war  in  which  we  are  about  to 
engage."     Its  first  recommendation  was,  '* continuous, 


242  APPENDIX 

active,  and  public  opposition  to  the  war,  through  dem- 
onstrations, mass  petitions,  and  all  other  means  within 
our  power. ' '  Evidence  that  the  defendant  accepted  this 
view  and  this  declaration  of  his  duties  at  the  time  that  he 
made  his  speech  is  evidence  that  if  in  that  speech  he  used 
words  tending  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  service  he  meant 
that  they  should  have  that  effect.  The  principle  is  too 
well  established  and  too  manifestly  good  sense  to  need 
citation  of  the  books.  "We  should  add  that  the  jury 
were  most  carefully  instructed  that  they  could  not  find 
the  defendant  guilty  for  advocacy  of  any  of  his  opinions 
unless  the  words  used  had  as  their  natural  tendency  and 
reasonably  probable  effect  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  ser- 
vice, etc.,  and  unless  the  defendant  had  the  specific 
intent  to  do  so  in  his  mind. 

Without  going  into  further  particulars  we  are  of  opin- 
ion that  the  verdict  on  the  fourth  count,  for  obstructing 
and  attempting  to  obstruct  the  recruiting  service  of  the 
United  States,  must  be  sustained.  Therefore  it  is  less 
important  to  consider  whether  that  upon  the  third  count, 
for  causing  and  attempting  to  cause  insubordination, 
etc.,  in  the  military  and  naval  forces,  is  equally  im- 
pregnable. The  jury  were  instructed  that  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  statute  the  persons  designed  by  the  Act  of 
May  18,  1917,  registered  and  enrolled  under  it,  and  thus 
subject  to  be  called  into  the  active  service,  were  a  part 
of  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States.  The  Gov- 
ernment presents  a  strong  argument  from  the  history  of 
the  statutes  that  the  instruction  was  correct  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  established  legislative  usage.  We  see  no 
sufficient  reason  for  differing  from  the  conclusion,  but 
think  it  unnecessary  to  discuss  the  question  in  detail. 

Judgment  affirmed. 
A  true  copy. 

Test: 

Clerk  Supreme  Court,  U.  S. 


APPENDIX 


243 


Oire  fRM  •(IdrM*  •(  jotu  latter  btr*' 


riM*  name  sad  iiailal  uamhar  bM* 


|.«,u.^£;^iE;«^K»«,-  tf^?=^. 


.^.^^'-i^C^    ^^f^^—  ;  </€^^^      >    ,i.c^*^C^^ ,, 


244  APPENDIX 

A  LETTER  FEOM  PRISON 

David  Karsneb,  E.  V.  Debs, 

2  Beekman  Place,  Serial  No.  2253. 

New  York,  N.  Y. 

Moundsville,  W.  Va.,  May  29,  1919. 

Beloved  Comrade  Dave: 

You  are  the  very  dearest,  sweetest,  finest  of  comrades, 
and  you  have  proved  it  time  without  number  since  first 
you  came,  as  if  by  special  providence,  into  my  life. 
I  find  myself  so  often  under  the  necessity  of  thanking 
you  for  some  fresh  kindness  that  I  have  come  to  realize 
how  little  of  what  sings  in  the  heart  and  sighs  for  ex- 
pression can  be  transferred  to  the  written  page.  Please 
give  the  ''youngster"  in  the  office  my  love  for  his  kind- 
ness in  helping  you  to  furnish  me  with  the  Call  files  and 
clippings  as  requested,  a  service  on  the  part  of  you  both 
that  I  gratefully  appreciate. 

Dear,  beautiful,  wonderful  Horace!  Put  your  arms 
around  him  and  kiss  him  for  me  until  I  can  do  so  myself. 
The  Almighty  never  made  but  one  of  him.  Tell  him  for 
me  to  cling  to  the  willows  and  live — he  cannot  other- 
wise, for  he 's  immortal.  The  Whitman  Fellowship  ban- 
quet of  the  gods  will  revive,  restore  and  re-inspire  him. 
How  I  'd  love  to  be  with  you  and  put  my  arms  about  you 
all.  I'm  busy  here  every  minute.  All's  well  within  my 
walls — if  only  the  same  were  true  without!  Warden 
Terrell  has  inquired  about  you.  He  thinks  very  kindly 
of  you  as  you  do  of  him. 

My  love  to  our  dear  Horace,  Anne  Mowtgomerie,  your 
sweet  Rose,  and  the  comrades  at  the  Call! 

Yours  until  the  last  sunset,  Gene. 


3)3 


f 


Dewec 


THE  PENGUIN   SERIES 

In  this  series  will  appear  new  books  of  a  distinguished 
literary  value  that  have  never  before  been  published  in 
America.  The  Penguin  will  embrace  short  novels, 
poetry,  plays,  short  stories  and  essays  of  especial  worth, 
and  preference  will  be  given  to  the  genious  of  living 
American  authors.  The  books  in  this  series  are  attrac- 
tively bound  in  color  boards,  with  white  vellum  backs. 
The  paper  used  it  of  superior  quality  and  the  type  is 
specially  set  and  printed. 

I.  Gabrlelle  de  Bergerac 
by  Henry  James 

II.  Karma 

by  Lafcadio  Hearn 

III.  Japanese  Fairy  Tales 

by  Lafcadio  Hearn 

IV.  lolanlhe  s  Wedding 
Ajj  Hermann  Sudermann 

V.  The  Curious  Republic  of  Gondour 
by  Samuel  L.  Clemens 

VI.  Sketches  and  Reviews 
by  Walter  Pater 

VII.  Their  Son  and  The  Necklace 
b])  Eduardo  Zamacois 

VIII.  The  Cobbler  in  Willow 
Street  and  other  Stories 

by  George  O'Neil 

Prices  of  all  volumes  in  the  Pen- 
guin Series  $1.25.  Postage  10  cents 
per  volume  extra. 


THE  MODERN  BOOKS 
OF  VERSE 

T  he  Modern  Book  of  English  Verse 
Edited  by  Richard  Le  Gallienne 

The  Modern  Book  of  French  Verse 
Edited  by  Albert  Boni 

In  Preparation 

The  Modern  Book  of  Irish  Verse 

Edited  by  Padraic  Colum 

The  Modern  Book  of  American 

Verse 

Edited  b^  Richard  Le  Gallienne 

Price  per  volume  is  $2.50 
Postage  20c.  per  volume  extra 


THE  MODERN  LIBRARY  i\V^^8lTs 

Many  distinguished  American  and  foreign  authors  consider  The  Modern  Library  one 
of  the   most   stimulating   factors   in   American   intellectual   life. 

Each  book  is  attractively  bound  in  limp  Croftleather,  with  gold  lettering  and  stained 
top.  There  are  books  in  the  Modern  Library  which  either  cannot  be  purchased  elsewhere 
or  in  such  cheap  or  attractive  form.  Many  of  the  volumes  include  introductions  written 
especially    for    this    series. 

Hand   bound  in   limp  Croftleather — 85c.   per  copy   (postage  6c.   extra). 

1.  Oscar  Wilde  Dorian  Gray 

2.  Strindberg  Married 

3.  Kipling               ,  Soldiers  Three 

4.  Stevenson  .      Treasure  Island 

5.  H.  G.  Wells  The. War  in  the  Air 
New  preface  by  H.  G.Wells  for  this  edition 

6.  Henrik   Ibsen  A   Doll's   House 

Ghosts,  An  Enemy  of  the  People 

7.  Anatole   France  The  Red  Lily 

8.  De  Maupassant     Mademoiselle  Fifi,  and 

1?   Other   Stories 

9.  Nietzsche  Thus  Spake  Zarathustra 
Introduction  by  Frau  F oerster-N ietzsche 

'0.  Dostoyevsky  Poor  People 

Introduction  by  Thomas  Seltzer 

11.  Maeterlinck      A  Miracle  of  St.  Anthony 

and  5    Other   Plays 

12.  Schopenhauer  Studies  in  Pessimism 

Introduction  by  T.  B.  Saunders 

13.  Samuel  Bueler       The  Way  of  All  Flesh 

14.  George  Meredith     Diana  of  the  Crossways 

Introduction  by  Arthur  Symons 

15.  G.  B.  Shaw  An  Unsocial  Socialist 

16.  Geo.  Moore    Confessions  of  a  Young  Man 

Introduction    by    Floyd   Dell 

17.  Thomas  Hardy  The  Mayor  of  Casterbridge 

Introduction  by  Joyce  Kilmer 

18.  Thos.  Seltzer    Best  Russian  Short  Stories 

19.  Oscar   Wilde  Poems 

20.  Nietzsche  Beyond  Good  and  Evil 
Introduction  by  Willard  Huntington  Wright 

21.  Turgenev  Fathers  and  Sons 

Introduction  by  Thomas  Seltzer 

22.  Anatole   France 

Introduction  by  Lafcadio  Hearn 

23.  Swinburne  Poems 

Introduction  by  Ernest  Rhys 
25.  Wm,  Dean   Howells 

A  Hazard   of  New  Fortunes 


Ty^roduction    by   Alexander   Harvey 

26.  W.S.Gilbert  The  Mikado  and  Other  Plays 
Introduction    by    Clarence   Day,   Jr. 

27.  H.    G.    Wells  Ann    Veronica 

28.  Gustave  Flaubert  Madame  Bovary 

30.  James    Stephens  Mary,  Mary 

Introduction  by  Padraic  Colum 

31.  Anton   Chekhov  Rothchild's   Fiddle, 

and   Other    Stories 

32.  Arthur  Schnitzler  Anatol  and  Other  Plays 

Introduction  by  Ashley  Dukes 

33.  Sudermann  Dame  Care 

34.  Lord  Dunsany  A  Dreamer's  Tales 

Introduction  by  Padraic  Colum 

35.  G.    K.   Chesterton 

.    The  Man  Who  Was  Thursday 

36.  Henrik  Ibsen      Hedda  Gabler,  Pillars  of 

Society,  The  Master  Builder 
Introduction  by  H.  L.  Mencken 

37.  Haeckel,  Thomson,  Weismann,  etc. 

Evolution  of  Modern  Thought 

38.  Francis  Thomson  Complete  Poems 

39.  Arthur  Schnitzler  Bertha  Garlan 

40.  Balzac  Short  Stories 

41.  The  Art  of  Rodin 

64  Black  and  White  Reproductions 
Introduction  by  Louis   Weinberg 


42.  The  Art  of  Aubrey  Beardsley 
64  Black  and  White  Reproductions 

Introduction   by  Arthur  Symons 

43.  Lord   Dunsany  Book  of  Wonder 

44.  W.  B.  Yeats       Irish  Fairy  and  Folk  Tales 

45.  Leonid  Andreyev     The  Seven  That  Were 
Hanged  and  The   Red   Laugh 

Introduction   by   Thomas  Seltzer 

46.  George  Gissing 
Private  Papers  of  Henry  Ryecroft 

Introduction   by   Paul  Elmer  Moore 

47.  Voltaire  Candide 
Introduction   by   Philip   Littel 

48.  Maxim  Gorky     Creatures  That  Once  Were 
Men   and    Other    Stories 

Introduction   bv   G.   K.    Chesterton 

49.  Max   Stirner        The  Ego  and   His   Own 

50.  Max  Beerbohm  Zuleika  Dobson 
Introduction  by  Francis  Hackett 

51.  Edward  Carpenter   Love's  Coming  of  Age 

52.  August  Strindberg  Miss  Julie  and 
Other  Plays 

53.  Theophile    Gantier  Mile.  De  Maupin 

54.  Henrik  Ibsen  The  Wild  Duck, 
Rosmersholm,  The  League  of  Youth 

55.  Woodrow  Wilson 
Addresses  and  Messages 

Compiled  and  Edited  with  Introduction 
by  Albert  Bushnell  Hart 

56.  John   Macy         The   Spirit   of  American 

Literature 

57.  De   Maupassant  Une    Vie 
Introduction  by  Henry  James 

58.  Francois    Villon  Poems 
Introduction    by   John  Payne 

59.  Ellen   Key,   Havelock   Ellis, 
G.   Lowes  Dickinson,  etc. 

The  Woman  Question 

60.  Frank   Norris  McTeague 
Introduction   by  Henry   S.   Pancoast 

61.  Oscar  Wilde         Fairy  Tales  and  Poems 

in    Prose 

62.  Nietzsche  Genealogy  of  Morals 
63     Henry  James  Daisy  Miller  and 

An  International  Episode 
Introduction    by    W.    Dean   Howells 

64.  Leo    Tolstoy  The    Death    of    Ivan 

Ilyitch    and    Other    Stories 

65.  Gabriele  D'Annunzio     The  Flame  of  Life 
68.  May  Sinclair  The  Belfry 

70.  Baudelaire  His  Prose  and   Poetry 

71.  Gertrude    Atherton  Rezanov 
Introduction  by   Wm.  Marion  Reedy 

72.  De  Maupassant        Love  and  Other  Sories 
Edited  and  translated  with  Introduction 

by  Michael  Monahan 

73.  Best    Ghost  ■  Stories 
Introduction    by    Arthur   B.    Reeve 

74.  Ernest  Dowson  Poems  and  Prose 

Introduction  by  Arthur  Symons 

75.  W.  L.  George  A  Bed  of  Roses 

Introduction  by  Edgar  Saltus 

76.  E.  and  J.  de  Goncourt     Renee  Mauperin 

Introduction  by  Emile  Zola 

77.  Leo  Tolstoy  Redemption   and  Other 

Plays 


BONI  &  LIVERIGHT   -    Publishers   -   NEW   YORK 


